The International Charter is a system that supplies free satellite imagery to emergency responders anywhere in the world.
The Charter concept is this: a single phone number is made available to authorized parties providing 24/7 contact to a person who can activate the charter. Once activated, a project manager takes charge. The project manager knows what satellite resources are available, how to task them to collect data, and how to quickly analyze the collected data to create impact maps for first responders. These maps, provided to responders for free, often show where the damage is and where crisis victims are, allowing responders to plan and execute relief support.
You can think of the Charter as a one-stop-shop for impact maps—an essential resource, since in many cases satellite data are the only practical method to assess current ground conditions after a disaster.
This month, 79 Landsat scenes were ingested by the USGS Hazard Data Distribution System to provide data for Charter activations including:
+ Flood in the U.S.
+ Flood in Argentina
+ Flood in India
+ Flood in Iraq
+ Dam collapse in Brazil
+ Hurricane Joaquin in Bahamas
+ Earthquake in Chile
The USGS HDDS also provided 26 Landsat scenes for:
+ Tornado in Central U.S.
+ Storm in Washington
+ Colorado spill
+ Kilauea volcano in Hawaii
+ Indonesian volcano
Details from the USGS Hazard Data Distribution System’s RSS feed for Charter activations:
On 2015-12-01 05:12:22, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201510_Hurricane_Joaquin_BHS
On 2015-12-01 05:19:56, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201511_Flood_IRQ
On 2015-12-02 04:44:42, 3 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201510_Hurricane_Joaquin_BHS
On 2015-12-03 05:51:50, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201510_Hurricane_Joaquin_BHS
On 2015-12-03 09:05:24, 16 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201512_Flood_IND
On 2015-12-04 05:28:43, 3 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201510_Hurricane_Joaquin_BHS
On 2015-12-30 08:17:02, 1 LANDSAT-7 scene was ingested for event: 201509_Earthquake_CHL
On 2015-12-30 20:34:47, 38 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201512_Flood_Midwest_US
On 2015-12-31 05:15:56, 4 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201512_Flood_ARG
On 2015-12-31 05:16:56, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201510_Hurricane_Joaquin
On 2015-12-31 05:23:00, 3 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201509_Earthquake_CHL
On 2015-12-31 07:20:39, 3 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201512_Flood_Midwest_US
Landsat data ingested by HDDS for non-charter activations:
On 2015-12-01 05:15:37, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201409_Volcano_Kilauea_HI
On 2015-12-01 05:15:37, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201409_Volcano_Kilauea_HI
On 2015-12-02 04:45:16, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201508_Spill_CO
On 2015-12-03 05:46:08, 2 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201508_Spill_CO
On 2015-12-04 05:31:21, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201508_Spill_CO
On 2015-12-08 04:47:31, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201409_Volcano_Kilauea_HI
On 2015-12-10 05:13:28, 2 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201409_Volcano_Kilauea_HI
On 2015-12-17 05:00:45, 2 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201409_Volcano_Kilauea_HI
On 2015-12-17 05:10:35, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201409_Volcano_Kilauea_HI
On 2015-12-24 09:52:49, 2 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201409_Volcano_Kilauea_HI
On 2015-12-28 04:56:39, 2 LANDSAT-7 scenes were ingested for event: 201409_Volcano_Kilauea_HI
On 2015-12-30 07:29:58, 1 LANDSAT-7 scene was ingested for event: 201311_Volcano_Indonesia
On 2015-12-31 05:18:48, 3 LANDSAT-8 scenes were ingested for event: 201512_Storm_WA
On 2015-12-31 07:33:33, 1 LANDSAT-8 scene was ingested for event: 201512_Tornado_Central_US