NASA Earth Science Activities Supporting Analysis and Response to Hurricanes Florence and Michael

The 2018 Atlantic hurricane season brought two major hurricanes inland with significant impact to the southeastern United States: Hurricane Florence, with damaging winds, record-setting rainfall and multiple weeks of extensive river flooding, and Hurricane Michael, with significant surge and widespread wind damage to the Florida Panhandle near the region of landfall and extension of winds, rains, floods, and damage into Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, and the northeast. In response to these events, NASA scientists, research teams, private sector, and academic partners worked with a variety of domestic U.S. partners to support research and analysis of the storms prior to their landfall, to support the broader weather and hazards community through the availability of remotely sensed observations, and collaborations post-event to make products available in the analysis of damage and recovery in the affected regions. For example, imagery and analysis from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission core satellite and broader constellation of international radiometers provided routine mapping of interior storm structure and offshore rainfall estimations, helping support global analysis and regional predictions of streamflow and inundation. For Hurricane Florence, the widespread and long-lasting nature of inland riverine flooding was routinely mapped by NASA’s Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) instrument onboard a C-20A/Gulfstream-III aircraft. UAVSAR observations included daily L-band and polarimetric remote sensing of flood waters associated with major North and South Carolina river systems, used by partners to extract detailed flood information for immediate response and longer-term validation and verification of partner streamflow and inundation models. UAVSAR collections and data use was supported by NASA’s staging of a visiting scientist at FEMA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. to assist with tasking, data analysis, and integration. Imaging from the Suomi-NPP satellite and VIIRS day-night band are incorporated into the NASA Black Marble and Black Marble HD products to inform pre- and post-event assessment of stable nighttime light sources for human settlement, activities, and their loss following long-term damage to electrical infrastructure, particularly for Hurricane Michael. Products and associated training and interpretation guidance has been provided through long-term partnerships with key end users including NOAA’s National Weather Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Guard Bureau, the USGS Hazards Data Distribution System and downstream HDDS users, the media, and the general public. Many of these data and product engagements were facilitated through the sharing of data through geospatial web services and collaborative mapping enabled by Esri products and NASA’s Disasters Mapping Portal (maps.disasters.nasa.gov) and outreach through NASA’s Disasters Program (disasters.nasa.gov). Our presentation will provide an overview of NASA’s data products, services, and partner engagements around Hurricanes Florence and Michael, along with a review of longer-term visions for the program to further develop and extend the benefits of Earth observations in support of disaster risk assessments, response, and resilience efforts.