REAL DECISIONS FROM VIRTUAL WORLDS

Analysis and Simulation:

Laboratory Teams Lend High-Tech Skills to Hurricane Rita Planning and Response

Los Alamos scientists assisted in the developing Hurricane Rita situation, both in the air and in the realm of virtual reality. On-scene in the Gulf Coast area, Laboratory spectroscopic equipment was airborne on the EPA's ASPECT plane, which was based out of San Antonio, while Laboratory critical infrastructure modeling teams of Decision Applications (D) Division were hard at work.

ASPECT

The ASPECT plane, an airborne toxin-detection platform operated by Los Alamos and the Environmental Protection Agency, was deployed to the southeast Texas coast where the hurricane made landfall on Friday. The ASPECT team scanned for potentially toxic chemical plumes from line or tank leaks, breaks and explosions:

Its threefold mission:

• protect the public
• help incident commanders with "situational awareness information"
• after health and safety are ensured, examine infrastructure items that could complicate a responder's response pathway.

See also: Flying Lab Uses High Tech System For Rescuers' Safety, ITnews.com.au

INFRASTRUCTURE MODELING

Prior to Hurricane Rita's landfall, LANL teams were activated to provide impact predictions for the hurricane. The Lab teams work for both the Department of Homeland Security's National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center (NISAC) and Critical Infrastructure Protection Decision Support System (CIP/DSS) plus the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Assurance (OEA).

The Laboratory maintains technical modeling and simulation teams to assist both government organizations with detailed computer models of vulnerable power lines and stations, flooding effects on power systems and more. Decision makers, provided with Laboratory reports, can have better data on which to base decisions about community evacuation, power shutoff and restoration and most importantly, deployment of aid in developing situations. Los Alamos scientists will provide ongoing analyses as the hurricane makes landfall and flooding and restoration in the hurricane's aftermath evolves.

NEWS

Nuclear Detection Equipment Finds Unprecedented LIghtning Levels in Rita, Katrina The Laboratory's Space and Remote Sensing group has deployed a network of ground-based electromagnetic pulse (EMP) sensors in Florida and the Great Plains since April of 2005 in support of the GPS satellite program and other NNSA nuclear nonproliferation missions. The sensors are capable of detecting lightning thousands of kilometers away. New data is beginning to track the lightning activities of hurricane Rita, and the attached images were gathered from Hurricane Katrina. Hurricanes are not usually strong producers of lightning, so the new data is thought provoking.