Data for Disaster Planning, Response, Management and Awareness
Emily Northup, Matthew Tisdale, & Michael Little
NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA
ASDC Introduction
The Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) at NASA Langley
Research Center is responsible for the ingest, archive, and
distribution of NASA Earth Science data in the areas of radiation
budget, clouds, aerosols, and tropospheric chemistry. The ASDC
specializes in atmospheric data that is important to understanding
the causes and processes of global climate change and the
consequences of human activities on the climate. The ASDC
currently supports more than 44 projects and has over 1,700
archived data sets, which increase daily. ASDC customers include
scientists, researchers, federal, state, and local governments,
academia, industry, and application users, the remote sensing
community, and the general public.
Using ASDC Data
How GIS Supports Disaster Relief
The ASDC is endeavoring the use of GIS technology to provide agencies such as the Department of
Homeland Security and Department of Defense with new ways to access and utilize the large volumes of
ASDC data for emergency management.
The use of GIS supports disaster relief by providing the
ability to:
Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull
• Model the speed, direction, and intensity of an
instance in order to warn the public in the event of
persistent disaster events,
Strategy & Innovation
• Identify suitable locations for logistical support of
public safety personnel,
In 2012, the ASDC facilitated the development of the first ever
strategic plan intended for fiscal year 2013 and beyond. The
2013 Strategic Plan serves as a mission-focused plan with six
defined goals, each with supporting objectives and tasks for
implementation that emphasize the vision and support the
mission and values of the ASDC.
• Analyze areas where relief supplies can be obtained,
transported, and delivered to refugee camps,
• Maintain and display the status of
response, relief, and recovery efforts.
Goal #1
The ASDC will strive to expand beyond its existing
customer base by increasing accessibility to a broader,
worldwide market; through the use of innovative
technologies, the ASDC will enhance data access
capabilities and develop plans to share data with new user
Pursuant to this goal, the ASDC is exploring and piloting new
communities.
technologies to implement for enhanced data access
capabilities. The datasets collected by ASDC pose unique
challenges to science data users due to the sheer volume and
variety of the data and the lack of intuitive features of the order
tools available to the investigator. To meet the needs of
emerging users in the disaster relief community, the ASDC is
addressing issues in data discovery and delivery. Through the
implementation of GIS using Esri software, the ASDC intends to
expand the discovery and access to ASDC data.
• Identify potential shelter locations such as schools,
libraries, churches, or public buildings proper for
supporting affected populations,
Way Forward
GIS can assist decision makers in understanding scope of damage and probable locations where people may be trapped or injured in
disaster events. Geospatial technology supports the critical mission of emergency supply chain management. Produced by ASDC data,
these ArcGIS maps portray the aftermath of the 2010 volcano eruption in Iceland and Hurricane Sandy in 2012. By utilizing MISR (Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometere) data, which is outlined in yellow in the map above, a clear plume of volcanic ash that drifted from
Iceland to Europe after the eruption can be observed.
Hurricane Sandy
Future objectives of GIS disaster management
implementation at the ASDC are to provide the ability
to complete:
• Investigation of web applications that can leverage
geospatial datasets and services for increased
access to ASDC data holdings,
,
GIS and Disasters
• Utilization of analytic tools in order to integrate GIS
capabilities into an advanced data architectures
that utilizes emerging tools and technologies,
NASA’s ASDC is piloting the use of Geographic Information System
(GIS) technologies that can be leveraged for crisis planning,
emergency response, and disaster management awareness. With
access to the data holdings of the ASDC the growing GIS
community can gain a better understanding of natural disasters and
to plan coordinated responses to emergencies. Many different
organizations currently use GIS tools and geospatial data during
disaster events. Previously, the ASDC datasets had not been fully
utilized by this community due to incompatible data formats in which
the ASDC data holdings are archived. Through the successful
implementation of this pilot, advanced efforts, and continued
collaboration with emergency management communities - including
the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense ASDC data will be more easily accessible granting the ability to
plan, respond, manage, and provide awareness during disasters.
• Integration of geospatial analysis capabilities and
tools into the ASDC that can be used for
comparing and contrasting disaster events,
• Prediction and preparation for disaster events
through the use of GIS technologies integrating
ASDC data.
The red outline in the map above uses both CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation) and MISR data
products to show the storm track of Hurricane Sandy. The MISR data (right) shows the storm approaching the U.S. East Coast,
extending from Florida to Massachusetts, on October 28, 2012. The CALIPSO data (left) shows increased cloud coverage on October
29, 2012 spanning from North Carolina to southern Pennsylvania.