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Patrick Rea

Publications and source records attributed to Patrick Rea.

Informing Disaster Response: An Introduction to the NASA Disaster Response Coordination System

Satellite observations provide information about the Earth that can be critical to building situational awareness and filling in data gaps during disaster response. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Science Division’s Disasters Program aims to advance Earth science data and information to support management decisions that prevent or mitigate the impacts of disasters. In support of this goal, NASA’s Disaster Response Coordination System (DRCS) manages a One-NASA approach to coordinate and mobilize the Agency’s assets and expertise to provide geospatial information during disasters. The purpose of the DRCS is to advance the utility of Earth observation information for supporting disaster response decision support, build skilled and effective response communities through improved coordination, engagement, and learning, and reduce impact to lives and livelihoods by empowering communities to respond to disasters more effectively. The DRCS employs a user-centered, activation framework that begins with direct requests from responders and ends with after-action assessments that feed lessons learned and process improvements. This poster will introduce the DRCS model and approach to expanding the use of Earth observations and geospatial information to support disaster response, share use cases for recent event activations, and highlight initial lessons learned.

Disaster Response↗

Applying Satellite Data to Support Disaster Response and Emergency Management Decision Making

Using the vantage point of space, satellite observations provide information about the Earth that can serve a critical role in building situational awareness and filling in data gaps during disaster response. NASA’s Earth Science Division ( studies the Earth as a system and develops technologies to improve the quality of life here on our home planet. Within NASA ESD, the Disasters Program and its Disasters Response Coordination System (DRCS) aims to advance Earth science data and information to support management decisions that prevent or mitigate the impacts of disasters. Using a whole-of-NASA approach to coordinate and mobilize the Agency’s assets and expertise to provide geospatial information during disasters, this work brings the utility of Earth observation information to emergency management and disaster response and reduces the impacts of disasters on lives and livelihoods .This poster will introduce the utility of satellite and geospatial information to disaster response through examples of recent DRCS incident response activations and highlight the DRCS model that employs a user-centered activation framework beginning with direct requests from responders and ending with after-action assessments that feed lessons learned and process improvements.

Remote Sensing↗

Informing Disaster Response through Earth Observation: A User-Centric Model for Enhancing Disaster Response Using Geospatial Assets

Satellite observations can provide critical insights to building situational awareness and filling data gaps during disaster response. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Science Division’s Disasters Program aims to advance Earth science data and information to support management decisions that prevent or mitigate the impacts of disasters. In support of this goal, NASA’s Disasters Response Coordination System (DRCS) employs a “One NASA” approach to coordinate and mobilize the Agency’s assets and expertise to provide geospatial information during disasters. The DRCS advances the utility of Earth observation information for supporting disaster response needs and builds skills in the emergency management and disaster response communities through improved coordination, engagement, and learning. The DRCS aims to support reduction of impact to lives and livelihoods by empowering communities to more effectively respond to disasters. The DRCS is organized across six NASA centers and managed by a project office located at NASA Langley, working in alignment with NASA Headquarters. The DRCS employs a user-centered framework that begins with requests from disaster responders (state, local, federal government and non-profits working at a national scale) and ends with after-action assessments that feed lessons learned and process improvements. This poster introduces the DRCS model and approach to expanding the use of Earth observations and geospatial information to support disaster response, share use cases for recent event activations working with decision-making organizations, and highlight initial lessons learned.

Remote Sensing↗