Astrium satellite imagery used for hurricane Irene
31 August 2011
Astrium GEO-Information Services tasked its satellites to collect data over the USA in anticipation of hurricane Irene's arrival to the east coast. Over 100,000 km² of cloud-free SPOT optical imagery and more than 85,000km² of TerraSAR-X radar data were collected as of Monday, Aug. 29 covering portions of the U.S. east coast from Charleston, SC to Maine and Vermont. Astrium will continue to collect imagery for disaster relief efforts over the next few days.The images were received at the time of acquisition via satellite transmission to direct receiving stations (DRS) in multiple U.S. Government agencies and Astrium personnel worked together to define the collection plan prior to the event. An U.S. Disaster Relief license was issued for the validated scenes. Validated scenes were processed and provided to government relief organizations and emergency management agencies on Sunday.
As operators of the SPOT satellites, exclusive commercial marketers of TerraSAR-X & TanDEM-X, and with unique access to a broad range of other spaceborne and airborne acquisition capabilities, Astrium Services’ GEO-Information division can provide customers with an unrivalled combination of Earth imagery - both optical and radar - as well as value-added expertise in a variety of vertical markets such as oil and gas exploration, emergency response, and forest monitoring.
Imagery collected on August 28th, 29th, and 30th. In RED, TerraSAR-X radar imagery, in YELLOW, SPOT optical imagery.
Crystal Coast, North Carolina - On Aug. 28, SPOT 5 acquired this 10-meter multispectral image showing the damage that resulted from Hurricane Irene slamming into the Crystal Coast at 115 mph. Portions of the Outer Banks were washed away due to the strong winds and erosion due to a storm surge against the mostly sand landmass.
