Brent Yantis & RAC Highlighted in International Charter Newsletter

International Charter Space and Major Disaster Newsletter | March 2019 |Issue 18

Spotlight on a Project Manager Brent Yantis, director of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Regional Application Center (RAC), explains how they use satellite imagery to aid hurricane disaster recovery. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette) Regional Application Center (RAC), a NASA research program, joined the Charter in 2008. Over the past 11 years, they have been involved in a number of activations, including being the Project Manager (PM) for two of the 2018 major hurricanes — Florence and Michael — at the request of the Authorized User, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). At the RAC, geospatial scientists work to gather and share satellite and remote sensing imagery. The RAC shares data with the public, the military, governmental agencies, and other research centers. Our research and data are vital pieces in emergency response, coastal restoration, the transportation industry, and precision agriculture. The RAC has contributed directly to disaster assistance, assisted in decision-making surrounding pre- and post-disasters, and conducted outreach and education focusing on disasters and disaster response, each year since 2001. We also host annual workshops to better prepare geospatial responders for natural and manmade disasters working with USGS and America View.

Hurricane Katrina In 2005, the RAC facility worked as a hub for geospatial data and communication coordination during, and in the aftermath, of Hurricane Katrina. Datasets were acquired from agencies across the US, and overseas, to assist in recovery efforts.  The imagery of the affected area in and around New Orleans, Louisiana, was collected — much of which was supplied on large hard drives delivered to the facility by vehicle, due to no connectivity or limited communication capabilities. These datasets were then printed and provided as maps to the Louisiana National Guard and displayed at the Joint Operations Center. When the National Guard went in to do search and rescue, I deployed with them, hauling maps and other remotely sensed products with me. We actually had to launch off the interstate to get into some areas.

This imagery of the area prior to the flooding was vital to on-the-ground responders, due to many out-of-state guardsmen and Red Cross workers who had never been to the New Orleans area before. These image sets provided a foundation to identify landmarks, roads and infrastructure that were, at the time, nine feet underwater. As water subsided from the area, imagery was again used to identify those areas to deploy large high water rescue and emergency response vehicles.  Much of this geospatial data collection and imagery development was repeated a month later with the arrival of Hurricane Rita, as it made landfall on the western coast of Louisiana. Future developments At the RAC, our future research will focus heavily on response and recovery affiliated with emergency response. It is well known that Louisiana is no stranger to natural and man-made disasters, as exemplified by Hurricane Katrina and the Deep Water Horizon tragedy. Satellite imagery enables natural disaster assessment and restoration to begin quickly, followed by aerial imagery, including optical sensors. Our new project, Strategic UAS Technologies for Optimizing Response and Monitoring, known as STORM™, will work to significantly improve emergency response time for natural and man-made disasters. We have multiple partnerships and alliances in place, including the Louisiana National Guard, the State Business Emergency Operations Center, the backup Emergency Operations Center for Louisiana, Regional Planning Commissions, along with many federal response agencies and local community response groups, working on developing applications using data types and technologies that can enable data sharing among emergency responders. The need for this type of program was vividly illustrated in the multiple record floods of 2016 and 2017 in Louisiana and Texas. The lead response group for the Disaster Charter data acquisition during Hurricane Harvey, and the flooding that ensued, was the Center for Space Research (CSR) at The University of Texas at Austin. During the events of 2017, the RAC supported Texas and in the floods of 2016, CSR supported Louisiana. In the future, the plan is to extend the UL Lafayette partnerships in emergency response to a gulf-wide network, so that response groups, at different geographical locations, (Louisiana, Texas, etc.) can share field-collected imagery and data, as well as use new analytical tools via a common data model and interoperable technologies.  As director of the RAC, I was trained by the Charter in 2008 (Denver, CO), 2015 (Sioux Falls, SD) and 2018 (Darmstadt, Germany) on managing remote sensing data acquisition and delivery during disaster events, and I am currently working to bring Charter representatives to Louisiana for training new project managers along the Gulf Coast.  I have worked in remote sensing and geospatial acquisition for emergency response for over 25 years, and it is my goal to acquire imagery and get reliable data to the agency managers/geospatial first responders responsible for implementing state response and restoration projects as quickly as possible.

See full newsletter -https://disasterscharter.org/documents/10180/14458/International-Charter...