Fwd: Remote-controlled aircraft to survey levees
Scott Eustis
From: Scott Eustis <sc...@healthygulf.org>
Date: Thu, Jul 24, 2014 at 2:31 PM
Subject: Re: Remote-controlled aircraft to survey levees
To: Danielle Tommaso <danielle...@gmail.com>
Remote-controlled aircraft to survey levees
Shot by an unmanned drone, an aerial photo shows previous efforts to build marsh along the southwest side of south Lafourche’s ring levee system.
South Lafourche Levee DistrictPublished: Thursday, July 17, 2014 at 9:19 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, July 17, 2014 at 9:19 p.m.
South Lafourche's levees will be viewed though an unconventional eye in the coming months.
Levee District Director Windell Curole said the district is in the early stages of working on an agreement to have its levees inspected by unmanned drone equipped with a camera operated by a local company.
Curole showed off a demonstration of the technology's promise at the district's board meeting earlier this week.
“This will help us accurately see the whole picture of what is going on,” Curole said. “When you get out in a boat, the view is not all pieced together; it is in parts.”
The 48-mile levee, which protects southern Lafourche from Gulf of Mexico storms and tides, is 16 feet at its highest points and 13 feet at its lowest.
“I used to hitch a ride with people who were flying so we didn't have to spend a lot of money,” Curole said. “Last few years, I haven't been able to get up there as much. This could give us the full expanse of what is going on.”
The district's levees are surrounded by a mixture of salt marsh, fresh marsh and open water in some spots. Curole said its necessary to regularly inspect the levee and its footprint to judge if wave action is eroding the levee's toe and to look for other problem spots.
“Every inch of the levee has to work. If you have one hole in the boat, the boat will sink,” Curole said. “If the system fails I don't want it to be from one point. It will have to be overtopping for miles, which could happen if we get the worst part of a bad storm. But I don't want it to fail from just one or two weak points.”
Curole said he drives parts of the levee system at least once a week, but use of an unmanned aircraft will give a broader view without the expense of hiring a plane or helicopter.
More generally, Curole said residents of coastal communities should see aerial footage of the their home as the view might surprise them.
“People don't understand -- the water is right there. You have the land you live on, the levee and then in some places you have water,” Curole said. “I can tell you that we have a subsidence problem or there is open water outside the system where there was marsh, but if we are looking at a picture of it, we are talking from the same platform to relay those facts.”
There are some who feel unmanned aircraft have a significant role to play in the state's coastal restoration and flood protection tasks over the coming decade.
Rules that dictate funding for restoration projects and wetland mitigation projects often require regular monitoring and some feel drones would be the most efficient way to do that work.
Nicholls State University has taken the local lead with the technology incorporating it into its geomatics program for future surveyors. Some of the program's first forays skyward were over the state's barrier islands, where millions of dollars in restoration work is planned.
Energy companies are also dabbling with the technology for inspecting equipment in either dangerous or far-flung locations.
The school is planning for a unmanned aircraft focus within geomatics.
“This is changing the ways of aerial photography and just photography in general,” said Bilaji Ramachandran, director of the program.
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I'm sure you know about this already, but...
Coastal Wetland Specialist
Gulf Restoration Network
504-525-1528 x212
sc...@healthygulf.org
www.healthygulf.org
504 484 9599
Chad Netto
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