OR&R and Oil Industry Scientists Share Advances in Unmanned Aerial Systems (Drones) Research
JULY 20, 2018 — OR&R Assessment and Restoration Division (ARD) and Emergency Response Division (ERD) staff recently participated in the biannual West Coast Joint Assessment Team (JAT) meeting.
The West Coast JAT fosters coordination and cooperation among oil industry representatives, federal and state natural resource trustee representatives, and spill responders. During the meeting, Chevron and OR&R presented findings on their collaborative research on unmanned aerial system (UAS) platforms (i.e., drones), together with other federal and state agencies.
Christian Haselwimmer of Chevron and Matt Dorsey of OR&R presented a number of platforms and sensors that were tested from 2014 to the most recent oil spill exercise in Covington, Louisiana, in 2018. The presentation focused on both response and Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) applications and outlined technological advances to identify oil on water and quickly provide imagery to an incident command post for decision makers via a common operating picture, such as the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA). Additional topics included briefings on recent NRDA oil spill drills and agency updates.
For additional information, including a copy of the presentation, please contact Mathew.Dorsey@noaa.gov.
