Using NASA Remote Sensing for Disaster Management

NASA Applied Remote Sensing Training Program (ARSET) is set to host online training sessions on using NASA’s remote sensing for different types of disasters, including floods, landslides and earthquakes. Training courses will run during June 2016.

Monitoring All Types of Disaster

NASA remote sensing and modeling resources are useful for managing a variety of disasters, including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, floods, landslides, wildfires, and oil spills – particularly in regions with little in situ data.

This training, which is given free of charge, is designed for international entities involved in a variety of disaster types, decision support activities, and various relief and humanitarian activities.

There will be four 1-hour training sessions, each Thursday from 09 June to 30 June. There will be two identical sessions held at different times on each training date in order to allow for international participation.

Brock Blevins, ARSET training coordinator, says:

“Previous ARSET disasters trainings focused primarily on flood monitoring and management. However, we always intended to expand the materials to include how remote sensing can address a variety of disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, and landslides. Over the past year we have asked participants their training needs and the disasters that affect them. We collected from the NASA Applied Sciences Disasters portfolio the operational datasets, tools, and portals most useful to mitigate and manage these additional disaster types and so by popular demand, we are very excited to be conducting this webinar series”.

For more about the training and how to enrol, see the course overview here.

What is NASA’s Applied Remote Sensing Training Program?

NASA’s Applied Remote Sensing Training Program (ARSET) is sponsored by the Applied Sciences Program within NASA’s Earth Sciences Division. The Applied Sciences Program supports applied research and targets projects focused on innovative and practical uses of data from Earth Observations satellites to inform decision makers around the globe. Since 2009, ARSET has worked with NASA Applied Sciences Program managers and principal investigators to communicate the datasets, tools, and portals that are operationally ready to present to weather forecasters, water resource managers, and disaster relief professionals.

The goal of the NASA Applied Remote Sensing Training (ARSET) is to increase the utility of NASA earth science and model data for policy makers, regulatory agencies, and other applied science professionals in the areas of health and air quality, water resources, ecoforecasting, and disaster management.