NOAA today posted online more than 350 aerial images of the U.S. Gulf Coast areas that were decimated by Hurricane Katrina. NOAA will be flying more missions in the days ahead that will yield hundreds of additional aerial digital images. The regions photographed on Tuesday range from Bay St. Louis to Pascagoula, Miss. The southeast coastal areas of Louisiana are being photographed on Wednesday. The aerial photograph missions were conducted by the NOAA Remote Sensing Division the day after Katrina made landfall at approximately 7:10 a.m. EDT on Aug. 29, 2005, in Plaquemines Parish, La.
| Update, Sept. 1, 2005: NOAA made available an additional 1,450 aerial images of the regions impacted by Hurricane Katrina, including New Orleans. See New Orleans images below. |
| Update, Sept. 5, 2005: NOAA made available an additional 1,100 aerial images of the regions affected by Hurricane Katrina. |
NOAA used an Emerge/Applanix Digital Sensor System, or DSS, to acquire the images from an altitude of 7,500 feet. The equipment was mounted on NOAA’s Cessna Citation aircraft, which is a versatile twin-engine jet aircraft modified for acquiring coastal remote sensing imagery. The aircraft can support a wide variety of remote sensing configurations, including large format aerial photography, as well as data collection for digital cameras, hyperspectral, multispectral and LIDAR systems. (full story)
Related story: Hurricane Katrina Impacts NOAA Marine and Radar Products
For information on recovery efforts, ways to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina in Gulf Coast states and other information, click here.
