NOAA CONDUCTS AERIAL SURVEY OF REGIONS RAVAGED BY HURRICANE KATRINA
Aug. 31, 2005  NOAA today posted online more than 350 aerial images of the U.S. Gulf Coast areas that were decimated by Hurricane Katrina. NOAA will be flying more missions in the days ahead that will yield hundreds of additional aerial digital images. The regions photographed on Tuesday range from Bay St. Louis to Pascagoula, Miss. The southeast coastal areas of Louisiana are being photographed on Wednesday. The aerial photograph missions were conducted by the NOAA Remote Sensing Division the day after Katrina made landfall at approximately 7:10 a.m. EDT on Aug. 29, 2005, in Plaquemines Parish, La. (Click NOAA aerial image for larger view of the destruction in Pascagoula, Miss., left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina taken on Aug. 30, 2005. Click here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)
Update, Sept. 1, 2005: NOAA made available an additional 1,450 aerial images of the regions impacted by Hurricane Katrina, including New Orleans. See New Orleans images below.
NOAA used an Emerge/Applanix Digital Sensor System, or DSS, to acquire the images from an altitude of 7,500 feet. The equipment was mounted on NOAA’s Cessna Citation aircraft, which is a versatile twin-engine jet aircraft modified for acquiring coastal remote sensing imagery. The aircraft can support a wide variety of remote sensing configurations, including large format aerial photography, as well as data collection for digital cameras, hyperspectral, multispectral and LIDAR systems. (Click NOAA aerial image for larger view of the devastation in Ocean Springs, Miss., taken on Aug. 30, 2005, after Hurricane Katrina slammed the region. Click here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)
The NOAA Cessna Citation aircraft acquired 3-D images of the World Trade Center and Pentagon just days after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
The NOAA imagery was acquired to support the agency’s national security and emergency response requirements. In addition, the imagery will be used for ongoing research efforts for testing and developing standards for airborne digital imagery.
(Click NOAA aerial image for larger view of the widespread destruction in Bay St. Louis, Miss., taken on Aug. 30, 2005, a day after Hurricane Katrina smashed through the USA Gulf Coast. Click here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)
(Click NOAA aerial image for larger view of the widespread destruction in Bay St. Louis, Miss., taken on Aug. 30, 2005, a day after Hurricane Katrina smashed through the USA Gulf Coast. Click here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)
(Click NOAA aerial image for larger view of Gulfport, Miss., showing the damage to the port there. Click here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)
(Click NOAA aerial image for larger view of Gulfport, Miss., where the port sustained widespread destruction. Click here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)
NOAA Aerial Images of New Orleans, La., taken on Aug. 31, 2005.
(Click NOAA aerial image for larger view of New Orleans, La., showing homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and a neighborhood inundated by flood waters. Click here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)
(Click NOAA aerial image for larger view of New Orleans, La., showing a part of the Big Easy almost completely submerged by flood waters. Click here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)
(Click NOAA aerial image for larger view of New Orleans, La., where flood waters consumed homes and cut off roadways. Click here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”) (Click NOAA aerial image for larger view of New Orleans, La., where homes were nearly swallowed up by flood waters. Click here for high resolution version. Please credit “NOAA.”)
NOAA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation's coastal and marine resources.
Relevant Web Sites
NOAA Aerial Images of USA Gulf Coast Impacted by Hurricane Katrina
NOAA Remote Sensing Division
NOAA National Geodetic Survey
Closeup of 17th Street Canal breach in New Orleans.

Spanish Fort area of New Orleans, on the southern shore of Lake Pontchartrain (pic is rotated so lake appears on the right).

The photos illustrate how severe flooding was in some areas.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is hosting  over 3,000 high-resolution images on their website of the devastation along the Gulf Coast. The images were taken by the NOAA Remote Sensing Division using a Emerge/Applanix Digital Sensor System or DSS from 7,500 feet.

They were mounted on a NOAA Cessna  Citation aircraft, a twin engine plane. The plane was the same plane that flew over 'Ground Zero' of the World Trade Center site and the Pentagon, after September 11th, taking 3-D photographs of them.

The images from the plane was taken to support the national security and emergency management response requirements. The image will also help current research efforts to help develop standards for aerial digital imagery.

Google Maps also contains some imagery (though limited) at this time when the word New Orleans or anything within New Orleans is typed in. It can be accessed by clicking the red button labeled Katrina.