Homeland Security:
Securing the Coastal Zone

Detection, assessment, and emergency management (preparedness, response, and recovery) are fundamental components of both environmental and homeland security. Immediate, accurate information is a top priority, along with the ability to predict the fate and transport of contaminants that could threaten human safety and health, as well as contribute to environmental disasters. In environmental emergency situations, nations have the need to rapidly assess safety hazards associated with consumption of food and water, along with the economic impacts to resources, such as fisheries. Emergency management and, therefore, increased security, can begin with an assessment of vulnerability and the development of contingency response plans to natural, accidental, and intentional events.

Battelle modelers examined the circulation patterns of contaminants in the East Sea.

The Battelle-operated U.S. Department of Energy Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is focusing on the protection of the coastal zone, which includes fresh and saltwater systems extending from the coastal area fringe 100 miles inland and 100 miles out to sea. The littoral zone, known as that area where the land meets the sea, is particularly dynamic. Battelle staff are using remote sensing, modeling, and information management capabilities to better characterize the littoral zone and generate user-friendly geospatial products for end-users. Understanding the physical processes in this region and the ability to detect changes are essential to ensuring security, which will also aid in military operations. Incorporating factors that influence the direction, speed, and biochemical reactions of hazards into fate-and-transport models to predict risk and vulnerability are central to emergency response planning. For example:

• Battelle researchers modeled the hypothetical fate and transport of a radiologic release in the Ob and Yenesei Rivers of the Former Soviet Union to assist in the assessment of risk posed by these releases on downstream receptors. Models were used to determine the international implications of potential transport of material across the Kara Sea, part of the Arctic Ocean located north of Russia; and
• In the East Sea, Battelle modelers looked at the circulation patterns of contaminants (see photo), such as municipal, agricultural, and industrial waste and hazardous spills, and potential effects on regional fisheries resources.

Additionally, sensor systems that can detect plumes, fish kills, and spectral signatures can be used to infer outside activities, such as vessel operations, or accidents, such as spills. A variety of sensor systems that provide near real-time and long-term information to guide management decisions are used to measure biological and physical phenomena in coastal environments. For example:

• The Battelle-developed bio-optical monitoring buoy, originally designed to groundtruth satellite data, provides a convenient platform for measuring a host of environmental parameters;
• Side-scan sonar, which has been used to map the nearshore environment, can be used to locate underwater mines and detect bathymetric or habitat change; and
• Aerial and satellite imagery can be used for landcover/land-use characterization and change- detection studies.

The need for faster and more accurate geospatial information is critical to environmental protection, homeland security, and emergency response. To address this, Battelle scientists have been working on streamlining data acquisition and analysis systems. Neural networks have been developed to automatically extract features from multisensor imagery and side-scan sonar data for enhanced data analysis, interpretation, and visualization. Remotely sensed data from satellites are combined with predictive models, in situ monitoring, and geographical information systems (GIS) for a more comprehensive assessment of the environment and prediction of change.

Overall, time and preparedness are vital to environmental safety and homeland security. Battelle applies a combination of scientific methods, technologies, and expertise to get the right information, to those who need it most, in the shortest time possible.

For more information contact Lyle Hibler at 360-681-3616, lyle.hibler@pnl.gov, or Karen Steinmaus at 360-681-3646, karen.steinmaus@pnl.gov.