AWS Public Sector Blog
Author: Jena Kent
Jena Kent is the communications and user engagement lead / National Ocean Service co-technical data lead for NOAA's Big Data Program (BDP), and oceanographer for NOAA's Center for Operational Oceanographic Product and Services (CO-OPS). As the BDP communications lead, Jena works with the BDP team to facilitate communications across NOAA, between NOAA experts, and cloud service providers. As an oceanographer, Jena works on a team that is responsible for annual tide and current predictions for the nation, which help mariners safely and efficiently navigate U.S. waters. Her passion is communicating the importance and usefulness of NOAA's data to help the public use this information in new and innovative ways, and make NOAA data more accessible.
Open data helps recovery in the aftermath of devastating weather events
Severe and extreme weather events not only wreak havoc on lives, property and the economy, but the extent of the destruction and devastation left behind can be difficult to map and quantify. Having high resolution imagery of areas devastated by weather events (hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and etc.) helps to characterize impacts, formulate needed recovery and response activities, support emergency managers in saving lives, and restart the flow of commerce. NOAA’s data plays a critical role in this process. As part of ASDI, we invited Jena Kent from NOAA’s Big Data Program to share how AWS is helping with disaster response by providing access to aerial data and imagery through open data initiatives.