The oil spill scenario was developed in part to test the applicability of the following template to demonstrate the value of the Digital Earth environment to multiple disciplines. Scenarios tell compelling, dynamic stories that inspire user communities to expand knowledge or take action. For example, they may help improve emergency preparedness by pointing out vulnerabilities and strengths in contingency plans or assist policy makers make more informed environmental decisions. Often, scenarios utilize earth science and socioeconomic data sets to portray a range of new possibilities and expose risks, integrating social, physical, technological, economic, and environmental forces and trends.  Scenarios serve as powerful decision making, education, advocacy tools and raise many important questions. Finding answers, however, is up to the user.  

 This page illustrates how the template was used to develop the Emergency Response Digital Information System. Click to open template in a separate window:

I. Identify Needs of the User Community
The first step in the Scenario template is to identify the user community and its needs.

In this scenario, the user communities include 1) Federal, State, and Local Government Agencies mandated by the National Contingency Plan to be responsible for an oil spill, 2) the Responsible Party or Parties, 3) the Contractors to the Government Agencies, 4) the Public, and 5) the Media.

The needs of the community were determined by studying the National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (NPREP), by reviewing previous responses to oil and hazardous waste spills in the area, and by  interviewing on-scene coordinators and other members of government agencies responsible for an oil spill.

This scenario has a twofold objective: 1) Provide an example of the capabilities of Digital Earth and WMS-compliant earth science data; and 2) Help users visualize alternative ways to manage and distribute legal, ecological, and response asset data in a timely fashion to coordinate information management and improve emergency response.

II. Focus on Specific Functions
Next, the creator of a Digital Earth scenario should identify specific tasks, functions, and roles (i.e., 'Decision Points') that users confront. The scale of the problem addressed can be large (e.g., oil spill emergency response) or small (e.g., a local decision of whether to fill or conserve a wetland area), but the scenario developers should consider both local and global socioeconomic and environmental trends to increase awareness and understanding of multiple potential  outcomes. This step will lend itself to real world applicability to create efficiencies in decision making processes (e.g., cost savings or cost avoidance).

III. Determine Information Responsive to Needs
This step involves the identification and consideration of local, regional, and global socioeconomic, geophysical, and environmental indicators to lead the user to relevant data sets. By focusing on specifically defined ‘indicators,’ the user is better able to quantify and assess the  many dimensions of the scenario, leading to the identification and application of new data sources , to solving the problem.

For example, in the oil spill scenario, a decision maker could search for indicators of ecosystem damage from oil contamination and find that benzene content in waterfowl is a reliable source of information. This could lead him or her to data sets not previously identified that could be useful to understanding the long-term impact of the spill.

IV. Identify Relevant Digital Earth Data Sets
In this step, the template user identifies useful digital Earth data sets, another helpful source of information.  The necessary data may be remotely sensed or in situ and may include earth science and socioeconomic data.

Providers of Earth Science data include:

Digital Earth Cluster and other participants in the Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) Federation
NASA Data Active Archive Centers (DAACs)
US EPA, Region III
NASA and Orb Image (SeaWIFS data)
The State of Maryland
The USGS EROS Data Center
The Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN)

For the oil scenario, relevant data includes:

V. Specify Tools to be Utilized
The next step in scenario formation is evaluation of existing response tools, including scientific models and technological systems. Once the existing tools have been evaluated, with appropriate consideration given to local, regional, and global socioeconomic, geophysical, and environmental forces, new tools and models taking into consideration previously identified specific indicators, may may be developed.  

For example, in the oil spill scenario, tools included oil plume models, weather models, and response models. NOAA's GNOME provides a general oil spill model tool that can assist response teams identify the projected movement of an oil plume.

VI. Simulate Range of Plausible Scenarios
In this step, the relevant information is processed through the previously determined system of tools and models to generate potential impacts of action ranging from best to worst case, e.g. from extensive long term natural resource damage to minimal short term environmental impact. In other words, the scenario can have predictive value.

VII. Present Range of Scenarios Visually and/or Narratively
Finally, in the last step of the template, the potential impacts of the decisions are presented visually, ranging from static maps to 3-D rendering of predictive events, or in a narrative that details the potential outcomes and is supported by the underlying  information.  The user may evaluate the potential outcomes to make more informed policy or response choices.