Burks, Jason

Goodman, Michael

McGrath, Kevin

Molthan, Andrew

Ramachandran, Rahul

NASA Technical Reports Server

Challenges and Opportunities in Geocuration for Disaster Response 
1Andrew	Molthan,	1Jason	Burks,	2Kevin	McGrath,	1Rahul	Ramachandran,	and	3Michael	Goodman	
1Earth	Science	Oﬃce,	Marshall	Space	Flight	Center,		Huntsville,	Alabama	
2Jacobs,	Inc./NASA	Marshall	Space	Flight	Center,	Huntsville,	Alabama		
3Science	Research	Oﬃce/NASA	Marshall	Space	Flight	Center,	Huntsville,	Alabama	
andrew.molthan@nasa.gov	
IN33B-1798	
Challenges	in	Disaster	Response	 Nepal	Earthquakes	of	April	and	May	2015	 Desired	Improvements	and	Data	Management	 Future	Goals	and	OpportuniEes	
tornado	scarring	
Response	to	natural	disasters	presents	unique	and	
speciﬁc	challenges	in	terms	of	data	collecTon,	
integraTon,	management,	and	retenTon.		
CollecTvely,	these	include,	but	are	not	limited	to:	
	
•  Rapid	collecTon	of	event-relevant	imagery	
•  DerivaTon	and	delivery	of	key	products	
•  AXribuTon	of	products	to	a	scienTst	or	source	
•  Metadata	for	tracking	data	collecTons	
•  CitaTons	of	data	for	post-event	scienTﬁc	studies	
	
Disaster	events	might	be	thought	of	as	similar	to	a	
ﬁeld	campaign	approach:	in	situ	data	sets	are	
collected,	in	addiTon	to	standard	NASA	and	other-
agency	holdings.		These	ad	hoc	data	collecTons	
provide	informaTon	during	the	event,	but	can	also	
serve	as	resources	for	studies	of	physical	processes	
aZer	response	is	complete	(Figure	1).	
Event	 Data	CollecTon		(ad	hoc,	at	site)	
Metadata	Data	CollecTon		(standard)	
Archival	and	
CitaTon	
Study	and	
MiTgaTon	
Figure	1.		An	overview	of	typical	acTviTes	that	occur	
with	regard	to	data	collecTon	and	management	
following	a	disaster	event.	
To	improve	the	management	of	data	used	and	
collected	in	response	to	a	disaster	event,	we	
review	eﬀorts	across	mulTple	NASA	Centers	in	
response	to	the	Nepal	Earthquake	and	AZershocks	
in	April-May	2015.	
	
These	eﬀorts	included:	
•  Development	of	response-relevant	data	sets	by	
various	NASA	Center	scienTsts	and	contractors	
•  Sharing	of	data	sets	within	a	single	NASA-hosted	
portal,	along	with	relevant	metadata	
•  DisseminaTon	of	data	sets	to	end	users	in	
support	of	response	eﬀorts,	and	their	feedback	
Products	were	produced	at	mulTple	NASA	Centers	and	the	
Jet	Propulsion	Lab,	including,	but	not	limited	to:	
•  Damage,	Damage	Proxy,	and	Vulnerability	Maps	
•  Surface	DeformaTon	Measurements	and	Models	
•  Satellite	imagery	to	support	detecTon	of	induced	
hazards,	such	as	landslides	and	debris	ﬂows	
Metadata	for	each	product	was	collected,	with	ﬁnal	data	
sets	posted	in	a	variety	of	formats	to	a	NASA	web	page:	
•  hXp://weather.msfc.nasa.gov/sport/disasters/gorkha/	
	
Figure	2.		An	example	of	the	NASA-hosted	page	for	
products	developed	in	response	to	the	Nepal	Earthquakes.	
Strengths	 Weaknesses	
•  Flexibility	in	type	of	content	
hosted	through	direct	
authoring	of	web	content.	
•  Diverse	content	(KML,	
GeoTIFF,	WMS)	should	be	
oﬀered	in	a	single	portal.	
•  Staﬃng	ﬂexibility	allowed	
for	near	real-Tme	support	
of	content,	staﬀ	permigng.	
•  Signiﬁcant	workload	for	a	
small	number	of	people	at	
a	single	NASA	Center.	
•  AggregaTon	of	content	
among	Centers	provides	a	
single	point	of	reference	for	
users	and	collaboraTon.	
•  Individual	scienTsts	must	
rely	upon	others	to	post	
content	and	may	not	be	
able	to	provide	updates.	
EvaluaEon	of	Web	Portal	Approach	
The	web-hosTng	soluTon	outlined	above	included	the	
following	strengths	and	weaknesses	during	the	support	eﬀort:	
	
CoordinaTon	eﬀorts	among	NASA	Centers	in	response	to	
the	Nepal	Earthquakes	suggested	improvements	to	the	
process	of	collecTng,	managing,	and	sharing	disaster	data:	
•  System	administraTon	to	ensure	reliable	access	
•  Flexible	and	funcTonal	layouts	that	include	the	display	
and	sharing	of	data	in	common	formats	(e.g.	WMS),	data	
download,	ediTng,	and	archival	of	metadata	
•  OpTons	for	response	team	colleagues	to	upload	and	
manage	their	own	contribuTons,	including	updates	
•  OpportuniTes	to	share	data	among	scienTsts	
•  Publicly	facing	portals	to	communicate	new	results	or	
share	data	with	the	disaster	response	community	
	
The	overall	goal	of	such	a	portal	would	be	to	facilitate	the	
use	of	NASA	research	and	applicaTons	outcomes	to	support	
disaster	response	and	miTgaTon	(Figure	3).	
Figure	3.		The	proposed	role	of	geocuraTon	and	data	
sharing	in	supporTng	the	disaster	management	cycle.	
	
	
	
	
	
	
Recovery	
•  Monitor	recovery	
•  IdenTfy	successes	
•  Improve	strategies	
•  Ensure	a	full	and	speedy	
recovery	from	a	given	
disaster	event.	
MiEgaEon	
•  Understand	physical	
processes,	
•  Improve	the	predicTon	of	
hazards,	and	
•  Inform	end	users	on	
miTgaTon	strategies.	
	
	
	
	
	
PreparaEon	
•  Consistent	formats,	
•  Pre-event	examples,	
•  	Relevant	training,	and	
•  Incorporate	them	into	
their	decision-making	
processes.		
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
Response	
•  Rapid	response	
•  Decision	support	
•  Timely	support	to	
response	eﬀorts	with	
Earth	remote	sensing	
and	relevant	models	
Current	and	future	NASA	Earth	remote	sensing	missions	
provide	numerous	data	sets	and	derived	products	that	are	
relevant	to	all	aspects	of	the	disaster	management	cycle.		
	
To	improve	the	access	to	and	use	of	these	products,	a	
collaboraTve	environment	should	include	(Figure	4):		
•  AutomaTon	of	relevant	NASA	data	holdings	
•  Inclusion	of	ad	hoc	products	from	applicaTons	teams	
•  FacilitaTon	of	access	to	derived	products	from	other-
agency	missions	and	commercial	data,	when	available	
CollaboraTon	Plajorm	
Archival	
NASA	
Data	
NASA	ApplicaTons	
CuraTon	 Sharing	
PreservaTon	
Other	
Data	
Synthesize	/	Share	
VisualizaTon	
Data	Recipes	
Outward-Facing	Disasters	Portal	
Training		
Figure	4.		Idealized	components	of	a	collaboraTve	
environment	and	portal	catering	to	disaster	response.	
Physical	or	virtual	holdings	of	data	among	NASA	DAACs	can	
be	streamlined	to	oﬀer	“big	data”	searches	of	key	
parameters	relevant	to	a	single	disaster	or	studies	of	a	
broad	category	of	disaster	events	(Figure	5).	
	
CuraEon	and	AutomaEon	Techniques	
Phenomena	
Physical	Features	
Observable	ProperTes	
Data	Variables	
Hurricane,	Severe	Storm,	Volcano,					
Winter	Storm,	Earthquake…	
Center	of	CirculaTon,	Low	Pressure,	Ash	
Plume,	Snowfall,	Displacement…	
Sea	Surface	Temperature,	Thermodynamic	
Proﬁle,	PrecipitaTon	rate,	Models,	DEM…	
MODIS	Infrared	Brightness	Temperatures,	
Cloud	ProperTes,	GPM/IMERG,	SAR…	
Figure	5.		Proposed	data	curaTon	strategy	that	would	link	
speciﬁc	disaster	phenomena	to	their	key	physical	features,	
observed	parameters,	and	NASA	mission	data	sets.	
Preliminary	Approach	
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20160000256 2019-08-31T04:32:49+00:00Z


Challenges and Opportunities in Geocuration for Disaster Response

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