Friday, November 2, 2012
NGS Responds to Hurricane Sandy
NOAA's National Geodetic Survey (NGS) has been coordinating with federal, state, and local officials and conducting remote sensing efforts in response to Hurricane Sandy. Requests came in from the U.S. Coast Guard District in New York for imagery collection of waterways supporting the ports of New York and New Jersey to verify the location of navigational aids and storm debris. NGS mission flights began on Wednesday, October 31, just hours after Hurricane Sandy made landfall, with NGS crews aboard NOAA's King Air and NOAA's Twin Otter aircraft collecting aerial imagery to assess damage caused by the storm. These high-resolution photos provide emergency and coastal managers with the information they need to develop recovery strategies. NGS Emergency Response imagery is spatially referenced, which allows it to be ingested into Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software. This attribute is what makes the NGS product unique from most other post storm imagery providers and is of great value to first responders, decision makers, and the public. The images facilitate search-and-rescue efforts, identify hazards to navigation and HAZMAT spills, locate errant vessels, and provide documentation necessary for damage assessment through the comparison of before-and-after imagery.
The following images provide a look at some of the aerial imagery NGS has collected. "Before" imagery is courtesy of Google, and "after" imagery was captured by NGS' remote sensing aerial operations. Move your mouse back and forth over each image to view the "before and after" comparison. "Before" image captured by Google; "After" image captured by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey.
Breezy Point section of Queens, New York. "Before" image captured by Google; "After" image captured by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey. Download large image
Staten Island, New York. "Before" image captured by Google; "After" image captured by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey. Download large image
Long Beach, New York. "Before" image captured by Google; "After" image captured by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey. Download large image
Keyport, New Jersey. "Before" image captured by Google; "After" image captured by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey. Download large image
Belmar, New Jersey. "Before" image captured by Google; "After" image captured by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey. Download large image
Sea Bright, New Jersey. "Before" image captured by Google; "After" image captured by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey. Download large image
Mantoloking, New Jersey. "Before" image captured by Google; "After" image captured by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey. Download large image
Normandy Beach, New Jersey. Download large image
Seaside Heights, New Jersey. "Before" image captured by Google; "After" image captured by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey. Download large image
Seaside Heights, New Jersey. "Before" image captured by Google; "After" image captured by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey. Download large image
From NGS's website, visitors can also view a map of the region and click on an icon to view thumbnail or high-definition images of a specific area. Images are now available for some of the Northeast's hardest-hit areas at:
http://storms.ngs.noaa.gov/storms/sandy/
Imagery will continue to be updated in the coming days.
For more information, contact Mike Aslaksen.
