Catastrophe (CAT) models help insurance companies price insurance by using data from natural hazard physical parameters (e.g., ground motion, flood depth, wind speed) to assess risk and probable loss. These models depend on geographic information systems (GIS) databases to characterize building exposure, but in emerging...
The NASA Disasters Program sponsors application science to support disaster risk reduction, response, and recovery through a series of grants and partnerships funded by the NASA Research Opportunities in Space and Earth Science (ROSES) program. The current portfolio of projects from the 2019 ROSES A.37 solicitation covers a broad swath of hazard and disaster research, from tsunami and landslide forecasting to volcanic ash and wildfire smoke plume tracking. It represents the cutting edge of applied disasters research. The program’s research efforts aim to assemble scientifically-defensible studies on disaster risk management, demonstrate the applications of NASA Earth-observing data for studying disasters, and mature the technologies and techniques developed from these projects to operational use.
Projects
Principal Investigator
Ronald Eguchi
Principal Investigator
Francis Monaldo
Francis Monaldo’s A.37 project, “Development and Implementation of Remote Sensing Techniques for Oil Spill Monitoring and Storm Damage Assessment in an Operational Context,” is collaborating with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to improve the algorithms that identify the United States’ coastal oil spills...
Principal Investigator
Dalia Kirschbaum
Compared to other hazards such as floods and earthquakes, landslides are small, making them more challenging to observe. As a result, there has been no global network for determining when they might occur. Despite their size, landslides are a pervasive hazard – killing thousands of...
Principal Investigator
Sarah Payne
Capacity Building Type
DEVELOP
Georgia Disasters II (2023 Spring)
Team: Shakirah Rogers (Project Lead), Nathan Tesfayi, Matthew Murray, Clarence Jackson
Summary: Heirs property owners are especially vulnerable to natural and manmade disasters. This group of people have inherited property left with no clear title and thus have unclear group...
Principal Investigator
Sarah Payne
Capacity Building Type
DEVELOP
Georgia Disasters (Fall 2022)
Team: Isabella Chittumuri (Project Lead), Nancee Uniyal, Nathan Tesfayi, Shakirah Rogers
Summary: In September 2017, Hurricane Irma made landfall in southern Georgia, causing severe flooding and widespread destruction. Disaster recovery programs were inaccessible for heirs' property owners due to title difficulties...
Principal Investigator
Eric Fielding
The moments immediately following a disaster are crucial to a swift recovery, yet it can be difficult for first responders to find reliable disaster information with such a tight timeframe. Sang-Ho Yun’s research project aims to provide rapid mapping of disaster damage using synthetic aperture...
Principal Investigator
Leah Mayo
Team Members: Narcisa G. Pricope (University of North Carolina Wilmington and Mississippi State University), Leah Mayo (University of North Carolina Wilmington), Joanne Halls (University of North Carolina Wilmington), Crystal Dixon (Wake Forest University), Elijah Dalton (University of North Carolina Wilmington)
Executive Summary: Coastal environments are...
Principal Investigator
Kristopher Bedka
Hail is the costliest severe weather hazard for the insurance industry, damaging assets such as homes, businesses, agriculture, and infrastructure. Since most insurance companies do not reserve enough capital to cover catastrophes, they require reinsurance – insurance for insurance companies. The reinsurance industry uses...
Principal Investigator
Isabel Lubitz
Capacity Building Type
DEVELOP
central california disasters (2024 Spring)
Team: Abhinav Banthiya (Project Lead), Chanice Brown, Jan Hery, Shagun Sengupta
Summary: Atmospheric rivers are a major contributor to extreme precipitation events and flooding in California. This study assessed the feasibility of using Earth observation data to monitor precipitation, soil...
Principal Investigator
Franz Meyer
Weather-related hazards, such as flash flooding and hurricane surges, are natural phenomena that can have devastating impacts on communities worldwide. As a result, disaster responders must react as quickly as possible to mitigate the impact on people and their homes. Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) –...