The Interior Department announced the creation today of a scientific team to help improve responses to environmental disasters.

In an order signed this week, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar cited several crises in recent years, including Hurricane Katrina, severe drought in the southeastern United States, massive California wildfires and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Strategic Sciences Group will analyze future scenarios and provide swift, interdisciplinary assessments during environmental disasters, Interior said. It will be co-led by Gary Machlis, a science adviser for the National Park Service, and David Applegate, associate director for natural hazards at the U.S. Geological Survey.

"Using the important lessons we've learned in preparing for and responding to past disasters, this group of expert, interdisciplinary scientists will play a major role in advising department-wide preparedness activities and grounding them in the best available science," Salazar said in a statement. "Their efforts will help us to act quickly, decisively and effectively when hurricanes, droughts, oil spills, wildfires or other crises strike."

Interior spokesman Adam Fetcher said the need to engage scientists from agencies including USGS and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration during the BP PLC spill helped inform the creation of the new group.

"Out of that came this understanding that in a real crisis mode we're going to have to stand up these crisis teams quickly, effectively and with the right members," he said. "Part of this is to institutionalize some of what we're learning from past events."

Salazar's order will allow the group to respond to crises using scenarios that forecast possible environmental, economic and social outcomes. Crisis teams could include scientists from government, academic institutions, nongovernmental organizations or the private sector.

The group was given three months to establish an operational plan describing its organization and high-priority crisis scenarios. Rhea Suh, Interior's assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, is in charge of implementing the order.

Click here to read the order.