Flying over storm-damaged refineries and chemical factories, a twin-engine plane carrying the ASPECT (Airborne Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology) system was on duty throughout the recent hurricanes that swept the Florida and Gulf Coast areas.
ASPECT is a project of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Decontamination Team. The Laboratory leads a science and technology program supporting the EPA and the ASPECT aircraft.
Casting about with a combination of airborne photography and infrared spectroscopy, the highly instrumented plane provides emergency responders on the ground with a clear concept of where danger lies, and the nature of the sometimes-invisible plumes that could otherwise kill them. ASPECT is the nation’s only 24/7 emergency response aircraft with the capability of conducting chemical-plume mapping.
Bob Kroutil of Bioscience (B) Division is the project leader, and while he said the team has put in long hours, both on the ground and in the air, it’s a worthwhile effort. “The plane flew over 320 targeted sites in four days,” he noted. Prior to the deployment to the Gulf Coast, the plane had been monitoring the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.
Other Laboratory divisions that are supporting ASPECT include Networking Engineering (CTN-5) and Communication, Arts, and Services (IRM-CAS). Leslie Mansell of CTN-5 and Marilyn Pruitt of IRM-CAS were recognized by the EPA for their outstanding support to the hurricane response to Gustav in Louisiana and Ike in Texas.
Information from the data collected in the most recent hurricane was sent to the EPA Region 6 Rapid Needs Assessment Team and the state of Texas Joint Field Office in Austin, Texas. It appears that though there is considerable damage in Galveston and Texas City, there are fewer chemical leaks than during either hurricanes Katrina or Rita in 2005.
Specific information gathered from the data was reported to EPA headquarters, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, and the state of Texas Emergency Management Agency.
