College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, 140 Seventh Avenue South, St. Petersburg, Florida 33701, United States.
NOAA Center for Satellite Applications and Research, College Park, 5830 University Research Court, College Park, Maryland 20740, United States.
Environ Sci Technol. 2023 Jul 18;57(28):10373-10381. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.3c01689. Epub 2023 Jun 22.
Hurricane Katrina (category 5 with maximum wind of 280 km/h when the eye is in the central Gulf of Mexico) made landfall near New Orleans on August 29, 2005, causing millions of cubic meters of disaster debris, severe flooding, and US$125 billion in damage. Yet, despite numerous reports on its environmental and economic impacts, little is known about how much debris has entered the marine environment. Here, using satellite images (MODIS, MERIS, and Landsat), airborne photographs, and imaging spectroscopy, we show the distribution, possible types, and amount of Katrina-induced debris in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Satellite images collected between August 30 and September 19 show elongated image features around the Mississippi River Delta in a region bounded by 92.5°W-87.5°W and 27.8°N-30.25°N. Image spectroscopy and color appearance of these image features indicate that they are likely dominated by driftwood (including construction lumber) and dead plants (e.g., uprooted marsh) and possibly mixed with plastics and other materials. The image sequence shows that if aggregated together to completely cover the water surface, the maximal debris area reached 21.7 km on August 31 to the east of the delta, which drifted to the west following the ocean currents. When measured by area in satellite images, this perhaps represents a historical record of all previously reported floating debris due to natural disasters such as hurricanes, floodings, and tsunamis.
卡特里娜飓风（登陆时中心最大风速为 280 公里/小时，属于 5 级强度）于 2005 年 8 月 29 日在新奥尔良附近登陆，造成数以百万立方米计的灾害性碎片、严重洪灾和 1250 亿美元的损失。尽管有大量关于其环境和经济影响的报告，但对于有多少碎片进入海洋环境却知之甚少。在这里，我们利用卫星图像（MODIS、MERIS 和 Landsat）、航空照片和成像光谱学，展示了墨西哥湾北部卡特里娜飓风引发的碎片的分布、可能的类型和数量。8 月 30 日至 9 月 19 日期间收集的卫星图像显示，在密西西比河三角洲周围有拉长的图像特征，该区域的边界为 92.5°W-87.5°W 和 27.8°N-30.25°N。这些图像特征的光谱分析和颜色外观表明，它们可能主要由漂流木（包括建筑木材）和死植物（如被连根拔起的沼泽植物）组成，并且可能与塑料和其他材料混合在一起。图像序列显示，如果将这些碎片聚集在一起以完全覆盖水面，那么 8 月 31 日在三角洲以东的最大碎片面积达到了 21.7 公里，这些碎片随着洋流向西漂移。从卫星图像上测量的面积来看，这可能是由于飓风、洪水和海啸等自然灾害造成的所有先前报告的漂浮碎片的历史记录。
