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Project:
Debris Flow Hazard Assessment, Pico de Orizaba, Mexico
State: New York
Sponsoring Program: SENH97
Affiliation: SUNY Buffalo, UNAM Mexico City
Principal Investigator: Sheridan,
Michael
URL: http://www.eng.buffalo.edu/~mfs
Description:
The objective of this research is to understand the risk related
to avalanches at Pico de Orizaba, the largest volcano in North America.
Conduct 4 types of analyses:
- Use
AVIRIS and TM data to create a geologic map
- Publish
a volcanic risk map
- Determine
the source zones for volcanic avalanches
- Construct
a model for catastrophic edifice collapse.
Strategic
Importance:
- Develop
and validate remote sensing applications within U.S. and Mexican
universities
- Enable
the productive use of ESE science and technology in the reduction
of risk related to natural disasters
Anticipated
Benefits:
Reduce the loss of life and property around volcanoes by the application
of NASA science and technology.
Project:
Landslide Hazard in Response to Short-term Climate Change
State: Tennessee
Sponsoring Program: SENH97
Affiliation: University of Memphis
Principal Investigator: Ellis,
Michael
Description:
Map storm-induced landslides using SAR data to calibrate a NASA-developed
landscape evolution model to then predict the influence of short-term
climate change on landslide hazards.
Strategic Importance:
Landslides represent one of the most costly natural hazards faced
by the US population. Damaging landslides are often caused by large
storms, and the severity of storms is closely related to short-term
climate changes ~ remember El Niño of 1997-98. Any understanding
of how short-term climate change might affect the distribution of
landslides will be useful to policy makers and to a variety of scientific
communities.
Anticipated Benefits:
Testable models and a clearer understanding of how short-term climate
change might affect landslide hazards.
Project:
Landslide Mechanisms and Hazard Assessment in Mountain Regions of
the Pacific Rim
State: New York
Sponsoring Program: SENH
Affiliation: Columbia University, University of Cambridge,
University of Maryland
Principal Investigator: Jeffrey
Weissel
URL: http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu
Description:
Use SAR+ optical data to characterize landslide geometry, distribution.
Anticipated Benefits:
Insights into likely landslide geometry for storms, quakes. Strategies
for minimizing loss of life by landslides.
Project:
Landslide Modeling and Forecasting Utilizing Remotely Sensed Data
(LANDMOD)
State: District of Columbia
Sponsoring Program: SENH99
Affiliation: National Air & Space Museum, University of Portsmouth
UK, University of Ferrara
Principal Investigator: Bulmer,
Mark
Description:
Examine the potential of remote sensing in the forecasting of landslide
events
Strategic Importance:
- LANDMOD
Mission A: Test the utility of SAR interferometry for measuring
movement on LARGE volume landslides
- LANDMOD
Mission B: Assess whether SAR interferometric products are a cost
effective means of landslide hazard monitoring today, or are likely
to be in the near future
Anticipated
Benefits:
- Develop
a comprehensive methodology for the use of SAR interferometry
in monitoring large-scale slope movements
- Develop
a new model for the initial stages of landslide movement linking
interferometry, detailed geomorphological studies and probabilistic
models
Project:
Scaling and Cross-Correlation Studies of Landslides
State: New York
Sponsoring Program: SENH99
Affiliation: Cornell University, IRPI Perugia Italy
Principal Investigator: Turcotte,
Donald
Description:
- To
better understand the landslide hazard.
- The
applicability of a power-law frequency-area relation will be better
determined.
- The
use of the occurrence of small landslides to forecast the occurrence
of larger landslides will be studied.
Strategic
Importance:
- Landslides
constitute a major natural hazard throughout the planet.
- As
population has moved into landslide prone areas, the risks have
increased greatly.
- Landslides
into dammed reservoirs constitue a major hazard as indicated by
the large loss of life when this has occurred in Italy.
Anticipated
Benefits:
Our basic objective is to provide a quantitative reliable predictive
capability for large landslides based on the occurrence of small landslides.
Project:
Thermal IR Remote Sensing for Reducing Landslide Hazards in Southern
California
State: California
Sponsoring Program: SENH99
Affiliation: Bing Yen & Assoc.
Principal Investigator: Sabins,
Edward
Project:
Utility of Thermal IR Imagery for Slope Hazard Mapping
State: California
Sponsoring Program: SENH99
Affiliation: CA Dept. of Conservation
Principal Investigator: Real,
Chuck
Description:
- Detection
and mapping of existing landslides
- Mapping
landslide hazard potential
- Differentiating
lithology of terrain
- Mapping
areas of ground saturation
Strategic
Importance:
- Evaluate
effectiveness of thermal remote sensing for mapping landslide
hazards
- Implement
thermal remote sensing technology in
- California's
Seismic Hazard Mapping Program and other landslide hazard mapping
efforts
Anticipated
Benefits:
- Expedite
inventory of existing landslides
- Improve
accuracy of hazard mapping
- Demonstrate
that NASA science and technology can facilitate slope hazard assessment
and risk management
Project:
An Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Study of Subsidence
in Houston Texas
State: Texas
Sponsoring Program: Solid Earth & Natural Hazards96
Affiliation: University of Texas at Austin, JPL
Principal Investigator: Tapley,
Byron
Description:
- Subsidence
bowls in northwest and west Houston
- Linear
phase features corresponding to differential subsidence across
growth faults
- Previously
unidentified subsidence bowl near Seabrook
- Incomplete
subsidence maps due to C-band decorrelation in non-urban areas
Anticipated
Benefits:
- Continued
subsidence measurements critical for planning future water utilization
strategies
- L-band
interferometry would provide more complete subsidence maps critical
for the monitoring and prediction of Houston-area subsidence
Project:
Application of High Resolution Digital Topography to Hazards in
California
State: California
Sponsoring Program: SENH97
Affiliation: JPL,USGS
Principal Investigator: Blom,
Ronald
URL: http://www-radar.jpl.nasa.gov/s323/IntSARapps/LH-Belridge_GRL.html
Description:
Relatively little use of digital topographic data and remote sensing
data has been made by agencies and organizations responsible for
hazards planning, evaluation, mitigation and response. We seek to
improve this situation by actively working with the California Seismic
Safety Commission to learn how to integrate space technologies into
their processes. California is relatively advanced in planning and
hazards mitigation. Lessons learned will be extensible to other
areas as global SRTM topo and other data become available.
Strategic Importance:
- Rising
population density and development increases cost of and vulnerability
to natural disasters worldwide.
- Topographic
& remote sensing data can help in all phases of hazards cycle;
planning, mitigation, and response.
- Advancing
computer technology, literacy, and the internet enable much greater
use of space technologies in hazards work.
Anticipated
Benefits:
- Apply
NASA data and technologies to important problem.
- Develop
means of providing useful data to users.
- Expand
methods as appropriate to other regions/agencies. Global data
sets such as SRTM have great potential in hazards work.
Project:
Application of Radar (SAR) Interferometry to Monitoring of Subsidence
in Petroleum Producing Areas
State: California
Sponsoring Program: Solid Earth & Natural Hazards97
Affiliation: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Chevron
Principal Investigator: Blom,
Ronald
URL: http://www-radar.jpl.nasa.gov/s323/IntSARapps/LH-Belridge_GRL.html
Project:
Development of Surface Deformation Map Products for Humid, Urban
Areas using Radar Interferometry
State: Texas
Sponsoring Program: EOCAP
Affiliation: Shell Exploration and Production Technology
Company
Principal Investigator: Biegert,
Ed
Project:
Identification and Mapping of Expansive Clay Soils in the Western
US Using Field Spectroscopy and AVIRIS Data
State: Colorado
Sponsoring Program: SENH96
Affiliation: University of Colorado-Boulder, Colorado School
of Mines
Principal Investigator: Goetz,
Alexander
URL: http://cires.colorado.edu/cses/
Description: Develop a spectroscopic method to understand
and map swelling soil potential that can be used for in situ determination
of swelling soil potential in construction sites. Extend to altitude
using ER-2 and AVIRIS.
Strategic Importance:
- World-wide
expansive clays and clay-shales cause billions of dollars of damage
every year, more than all natural hazards combined
- Colorado
Front Range has history of problems with construction, 35% of
all structures require remediation
- Undersampling
of sites because of high costs of standard techniques leads to
differential heave problems
Anticipated
Benefits:
Much more rapid and less costly soil sample analysis technique
Project:
Investigate Uses of SAR for Detecting Land Subsidence in the San
Joaquin/Sacramento River Delta, Central California
State: Colorado
Sponsoring Program: SENH97
Affiliation: Vexcel Corp.
Principal Investigator: Cohen,
David
URL: http://www.vexcel.com
Project:
Land Surface Variability in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta: Differential
Interferometric SAR
State: Colorado
Sponsoring Program: SENH96
Affiliation: Vexcel Inc.
Principal Investigator: Curlander,
John
Project:
Monitoring of Subsidence and Rebound Due to Groundwater Level Variations
in Santa Clara Valley, California with SAR Interferometry
State: California
Sponsoring Program: SENH97
Affiliation: USGS, UC Berkeley, Santa Clara Valley Water
District, San Jose CA
Principal Investigator: Galloway,
Devin
URL: http://water.wr.usgs.gov/rep/fs05100/insar2.pdf
Description:
Measure the magnitudes and patterns of land surface elevation changes
associated with ground-water discharge and recharge to the aquifer
system in Santa Clara Valley ("Silicon Valley"). Determine the seasonal
and longer-term (<5 yr) patterns of subsidence and uplift Compare
InSAR results with other geodetic data Determine hydrogeologic controls
Strategic Importance:
- Develop
and validate InSAR applications to monitor the deformation of
aquifer systems
- Develop
a tool to asist in the optimal management of our ground-water
resources
Anticipated
Benefits:
- Displacement
maps of Santa Clara Valley showing areas susceptiable to subsidence
- New
insights into the properties of the aquifer system and ground-water
flow in Santa Clara Valley
- Demonstrate
that space-borne remote sensing technology can be applied to the
management of our ground-water resources
Project:
Relative and Absolute Sea Level Change in the Gulf of Mexico: A
Study of Rapid Land Subsidence
State: Florida
Sponsoring Program: SENH97
Affiliation: University of Miami
Principal Investigator: Harrison,
Christopher
Project:
Continental Topography and River Height Variations from Overland
Radar Altimetry
State: Maryland
Sponsoring Program: Solid Earth & Natural Hazards97
Affiliation: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Principal Investigator: Frey,
Herbert
Project:
Estimation of Flood Hazards through Remote Sensing and Modeling
State: Washington
Sponsoring Program: SENH96
Affiliation: University of WA
Principal Investigator: Lettenmaier,
Dennis
Description:
Assimilate satellite-derived data into a macroscale hydrological
model for improved flood hazard prediction and reservoir management.
Strategic Importance:
- Mitigation
of catastrophic damage in the Midwest due to frozen soil-amplified
runoff as in the floods of the winter of 1996/1997
- Potential
for advance warning and prediction for use in flood control
Anticipated
Benefits:
- Evaluation
of utility of microwave satellite data for hydrologic model updating
- Demonstrate
that NASA science and technology can be used for catastrophic
runoff predictions to prevent loss of life and property
Project:
Flood Forecasting using a Regional Scale Atmosphere/Land Surface
Modeling System
State: Maryland
Sponsoring Program: SENH99
Affiliation: Austin College, NASA/GSFC
Principal Investigator: Baker,
R. David
Description:
Conduct mesoscale numerical simulations to better understand the
physical mechanisms responsible for flash flooding
Strategic Importance:
- Improve
real-time forecasting of flash floods
- Utilize
remotely sensed products from NASA missions such as the Tropical
Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and the Shuttle Radar Topography
Mission (SRTM) to address an important societal issue
Anticipated
Benefits:
- Validate
the regional atmosphere/land-surface modeling system, MM5-PLACE
- Assess
the need for high quality soil moisture observations to predict
heavy precipitation events
- Demonstrate
that NASA science and technology can be used for improved weather
and flood forecasting
Project:
Flood Plain Modeling Based on Data Fusion of Polarimetric SAR Interferometry
and Laser Altimetry
State: California
Sponsoring Program: SENH99
Affiliation: JPL, University of Texas at Austin
Principal Investigator: Van
Zyl, Jakob
Description:
Provide input fields of topography as well as the state of soil
moisture and vegetation cover for a hydrological model to enable
more accurate prediction of flooding events and flood extent in
riverine and coastal floodplains.
Three
phases of development:
- Acquire
in-situ and remotely sensed data
- Finalize
vegetation height estimation algorithm
- Incorporate
fields into hydrologic model
Strategic
Importance:
- Will
provide a scientific basis for flood prediction in floodplains
and coastal lowlands
- Will
develop state of the art remote sensing techniques and inversion
algorithms to provide input fields required by a physically based
hydrologic model
Anticipated
Benefits:
Operational monitoring of input fields, coupled with the predictive
capabilities of the hydrologic model, will allow disaster agencies
to predict the occurrence and extent of flooding, thereby saving lives
and property.
Project:
Globally Consistent Topographic Characterization of Large River
Floodplains based on the SRTM DEM
State: California
Sponsoring Program: SENH99
Affiliation: UCSB, UCLA
Principal Investigator: Mertes,
Leal
Project:
Remote Sensing for Debris Flooding Hazard Assessment in Arid Regions
State: Arizona
Sponsoring Program: SENH99
Affiliation: University of Arizona
Principal Investigator: Baker,
Victor
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