Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/46658
Time-sensitive GeoWorld departments such as NetLink, PeopleLink, Product News and Business News now are maintained solely at the GeoPlace.com Web site. Check there often for the latest updates as they happen. to download pre- and post-event imagery. According to DigitalGlobe, the service can deliver imagery in as little as three hours after initiation of event tracking, depend- ing on factors such as cloud cover and satellite orbit. "Accurate and timely analysis of satellite imagery plays a vital role in helping us respond faster and smarter, so that more lives can be saved," said Francesco Pisano, manager of UNOSAT. For UNOSAT, the subscription service should fit with the institute's "Data-in-Hand" initiative, which combines commercial and other resources to con- solidate data access for emergency-response and "human-security" monitoring. UNOSAT chose a multi- license subscription to FirstLook, which should grant on-demand imagery access and download capabilities to multiple UN agencies. Before-and-After Hurricane Imagery to Boost Coastal Restoration Efforts The impact of Hurricane Irene, which hit North Carolina's Outer Banks in August 2011 and sideswiped the East Coast all the way to New England, has been revealed in a series of before-and-after aerial images from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The series of photos focuses on the Outer Banks, spot- lighting coastline breaches that sliced through a state high- way, moved massive amounts of sand inland and formed new inlets. "Such multiple breaches, or new inlets, cut through the Outer Banks could take weeks to months to close on their own," said Asbury "Abby" Sallenger, a USGS oceanographer. "And without intervention like pumping sand, some could even persist indefinitely, depending on the channel's cross-section and the amount of water flushed through it on every tide." Hurricane Irene made landfall near Cape Lookout on Aug. 27, 2011. In the days immediately afterward, USGS scientists relied on aerial photography and an airborne LIDAR survey mission conducted with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to acquire detailed infor- mation on coastal change. The information allowed scien- tists to characterize the changes and determine the degree of erosion as well as the location of new inlets. Ultimately, such information should prove useful in mitigation and restoration efforts, such as rebuilding N.C. Highway 12, which was severed in multiple locations by breaches that Irene cut through the barrier islands. Data also could be used in producing more-accurate predic- tive models of future coastal impacts from severe storms. Such models also may identify areas vulnerable to extreme coastal change. USGS made before-and-after photos available online at coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/irene/photo-comparisons. Two aerial photos show the same stretch of land along Core Banks, N.C. The top image (from June 12, 2010) offers a "before" picture to the "after" image shown below (from Aug. 28, 2011, one day after Hurricane Irene's landfall). The red line in the bottom photo marks the location of the oceanfront shore on June 12, 2010. A breach that Irene cut through the barrier island is visible in the bottom photo. OCT O BER 2O11 / WWW . GEOPLA CE . C OM 7 USGS/USDA/NOAA