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Measurement and Monitoring: Healthy Communities and Ecosystems
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A [Metadata] link on any item leads to that item's entry in the Registry of EPA Applications and Databases (READ). READ is an authoritative source of information about EPA application systems and other information sources.
Global Earth Observation
System of Systems Tools
System of Systems Tools
Aquatic Diversity: Rivers & Streams - Aquatic biodiversity can be defined as the variety of life and the ecosystems that make up the freshwater, tidal, and marine regions of the world and their interactions.
Stressor Identification Guidance Document - (PDF, 228 pp., 2 MB) The Stressor Identification process (SI) is prompted by biological assessment data
indicating that a biological impairment has occurred. The general SI process entails
critically reviewing available information, forming possible stressor scenarios that might
explain the impairment, analyzing those scenarios, and producing conclusions about
which stressor or stressors are causing the impairment.
Biological Indicators of Watershed Health - After much careful study, environmental scientists have determined that the presence, condition, and numbers of the types of fish, insects, algae, and plants can provide accurate information about the health of a specific river, stream, lake, wetland, or estuary. These types of plants and animals are called biological indicators.
Environmental Radiation Ambient Monitoring System (ERAMS) - A national network of monitoring stations that regularly collect air, precipitation, drinking water, and milk samples for analysis of radioactivity.
[Metadata]
National Epidemiological and Environmental Assessment of Recreational (NEEAR) - Research study that investigates human health effects associated with recreational water use. This study will help us better understand the link between water pollution, swimming at the beach, and peoples' health.
National Fish Tissue Study - Four-year national screening-level freshwater fish contamination study.
Analytical Tools Interface for Landscape Assessments (ATtILA) -
GIS-based hydrologic modeling tool. ATtILA is an easy to use ArcView extension that calculates many commonly used landscape metrics. 
Environmental Photographic Interpretation Center (EPIC) - It involves the scientific evaluation of existing and developing air- and space-borne remote sensing systems and data in order to determine their utility for providing information at multiple scales about the earth, its ecological resources, and impacts on these resources through natural and human-induced processes.
Regional Vulnerability Assessment (ReVA) - An approach to regional scale, priority-setting assessment being developed by EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD). ReVA will expand cooperation among the laboratories and centers of ORD, by integrating research on human and environmental health, ecorestoration, landscape analysis, regional exposure and process modeling, problem formulation, and ecological risk guidelines.
[Metadata]
Children's Total Exposure to Persistent Pesticides CTEPP - (PDF, 6 pp., 135 KB) The largest children's exposure study undertaken to date. It examines the aggregate exposures of 257 preschool children between the ages of 18 months and 5 years to pollutants commonly found in their everyday environments.
Databases
ECOTOXicology (ECOTOX) - Provides single chemical toxicity information for aquatic and terrestrial life. ECOTOX is a useful tool for examining impacts of chemicals on the environment.
[Metadata]
National Risk Management Research Laboratory Databases (NRMRL databases) - EPA's NRMRL has a treatability database available on disk and Mid-Atlantic Integrated Assessment information.
Ecotoxicity Database - This database has over 15,000 summary records for about 680 pesticide active ingredients.
Ecological Incident Information System (EIIS) - Database to store information extracted from incident reports.
Environmental Fate Database -
Presently, this database contains environmental fate and transport data for about 250 pesticide active ingredients. The Pesticide Program plans to complete the initial version of this database by the end of 2002 and will be adding additional active ingredients during the next two years.
Pesticides in Ground and Surface Water Database - The Pesticides Program in EPA is in the process of developing a database which contains information on the presence of pesticides in treated as well as untreated ground and surface water. Information in this database will be provided by the U.S. Geological Survey, the Office of Water in EPA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, other federal and state agencies, registrants or pesticide manufacturers, and other public entities, such as universities.
Pesticides Ground and Surface Water Incident Database -
This electronic database was created in 1999 and contains adverse effects data for aggregate as well as individual pesticides detected in ground and/or surface water incidents.
Great Lakes Environmental Database (GLENDA) - Being developed to provide long-term storage, access, and analysis capabilities for environmental data on the Great Lakes to meet the needs of scientists, policy makers, and other users.
[Metadata]
Virtual Field Reference Data Base - The Landscape Characterization Branch within the Office of Research and Development has developed the Neuse River Basin "Virtual Field Reference Data Base (VFRDB)" for the purpose of providing in situ reference measurement data for statistically rigorous accuracy assessments of land-cover maps derived from satellite and airborne remote sensing platforms.
Partners
Land Cover Characterization Program (LCCP) - This program was started in 1995 to address National and International requirements for land cover data that were becoming increasingly sophisticated and diverse. The goal of the land cover program is to be a national and international center for excellence in land cover characterization.
National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive (NSLRSDA) - In 1992, Congress directed the Department of the Interior to establish a permanent Government archive containing satellite remote sensing data of the Earth's land surface -- and to make these data easily accessible and readily available for study. Residing in the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) EROS Data Center near Sioux Falls, South Dakota, this collection of information is known legally as the National Satellite Land Remote Sensing Data Archive (NSLRSDA). It is a comprehensive, permanent, and impartial record of the planet's land surface derived from 40+ years of satellite remote sensing.
The Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) - The LP DAAC was established as part of NASA's Earth Observing System (GEOSS) Data and Information System (GEOSSDIS) initiative to process, archive, and distribute land-related data collected by GEOSS sensors, thereby promoting the inter-disciplinary study and understanding of the integrated Earth system. (USGS/NASA)
North American Landscape Characterization (NALC) - Consists of Landsat Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS) time-series triplicates that were acquired in 1973, 1986, and 1991 (+/- one year). The data covers selected locations throughout the conterminous U.S. and Mexico. (USGS)
Pesticide Data Program (PDP) - From the Agricultural Marketing Service of USDA. The PDP is a national pesticide residue database program. Through cooperation with State agriculture departments and other federal agencies, PDP manages the collection, analysis, data entry, and reporting of pesticide residues on agricultural commodities, with an emphasis on those commodities highly consumed by infants and children.