2005 brought two of the most destructive hurricanes our country has ever experienced. The first storm, Katrina, which reached landfall in August, devastated the city of New Orleans and other huge sections of the Gulf Coast, killing nearly 1,300 people and displacing more than one million more. And just four weeks later, Hurricane Rita reached land in many of the same areas already ravaged by Katrina, forcing widespread evacuations and causing significant damage to coastal areas of both Louisiana and Texas.

During this time, Raytheon technologies played vital roles in forecasting both storms and assessing the subsequent damage they caused. Raytheon’s space-based sensors provided critical information to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Weather Service (NWS) and National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the U.S. Army, and others. When it comes to predicting storms and assessing the resulting physical and environmental damage, these organizations rely largely on high-tech, satellite-based sensor technologies, many of which are provided by Raytheon. As evidenced through Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, these sophisticated instruments are able to provide information to help predict and prepare for impending weather crises and aid in recovery efforts following these natural disasters.

Improving Lead Time for Storm Preparation
Raytheon’s SeaWinds scatterometer, a microwave radar instrument for measuring ocean surface winds, was developed by Raytheon Network Centric Systems in St. Petersburg, Fla. SeaWinds was launched on NASA’s QuikSCAT satellite on June 19, 1999, and continues to provide highly accurate data on wind speed and direction that serves as critical input to the NWS numerical weather-prediction and wave-prediction models — including hurricane forecast models. SeaWinds covers 90 percent of the Earth’s oceans and measures winds to within two meters per second. Information provided by SeaWinds helps meteorologists around the world accurately forecast storms — which in turn enables them to provide greater warning time to people in harm’s way. For more information about Raytheon’s SeaWinds scatterometer and NASA’s QuikSCAT mission, go to the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab’s winds website at http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov.

Defining Damage Areas
The USGS Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) employs a number of Raytheon space-based sensors for collecting a wide range of imaging and mapping data that is being used by FEMA and state and local governments to help prioritize recovery efforts. These sensors include the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), operating on NASA’s Terra and Aqua spacecraft, and the Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM), operating on the Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 spacecraft. The MODIS and ETM sensors were developed by Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems at its Santa Barbara Remote Sensing (SBRS) operation in Santa Barbara, Calif. NASA has developed a MODIS Rapid Response System that is providing daily images of the Gulf Coast region to the U.S. Army and FEMA to aid in identifying areas of physical and environmental damage.

Assessing Damage Levels
The NASA/University of Maryland Global Land Cover Facility (GLCF) has combined MODIS and Landsat ETM data to identify flood inundation areas and the extent of flooding in coastlines and inland areas. GLCF has also combined Landsat ETM imagery with information from NASA’s Shuttle Radar Topography mission to provide three-dimensional images of areas affected by the hurricanes. By comparing these images with pre-storm data, they were able to determine exactly how much devastation had taken place. And MODIS multispectral imagery is helping identify damage to vegetation in the Gulf Coast region.

Assisting With Reconstruction Planning
Hyperspectral imaging technology provided by Raytheon Photon Research Associates is being used to assess structural damage and toxicity levels in and around hard-hit cities like New Orleans, Gulfport and Biloxi. This diagnostic data is unsurpassed by any other form of remote sensing and is a key planning tool in the reconstruction efforts.

Forecasting the Future
The storm tracking and imaging equipment designed and built by Raytheon is among the most advanced technology available in the world. According to Raytheon’s Rick Gildea, vice president of U.S. Business Development, the technology is only improving. “The name of the game here is preparation. One day we should be able to predict severe weather months — not just weeks — in advance. That’s the next step.”

*The content on this page is classified as historical content. See this important information regarding such content.