The NOAA/NESDIS Hazard Mapping System

The need for analyzed products derived from satellites is becoming more necessary to disaster managers, forecasters, and disaster response agencies. The increased value in satellite hazard derived products was demonstrated by NOAA's response to the Indonesian, Brazilian, and Mexican fires in the past year. The Hazard Mapping System (HMS), under development by NESDIS, is an interactive system used to analyze satellite data and develop derived products depicting hazards as observed from satellites. The application, based on the Interactive Data Language (IDL) application, uses an interactive graphical interface to display and analyze satellite imagery and display results from automated hazard detection algorithms. Hazard types, analyzed with HMS in this first phase of development, include fire (hot spots), smoke, and volcanic ash. Satellite data in HMS is from NOAA's geostationary and polar orbiting satellites. HMS is being developed as an operational demonstration prototype and will be used at NESDIS for the creation of products at NESDIS' Satellite Analysis Branch at the NOAA Science Center.