Twenty years ago, one of the most significant storms to ever strike the United States made landfall along the Louisiana-Mississippi border on August 29, 2005. Hurricane Katrina remains the costliest disaster to ever impact the U.S. and is one of the five deadliest hurricanes to ever strike the U.S. In all, Hurricane Katrina was responsible for 1,833 fatalities and approximately $108 billion in damage (un-adjusted 2005 dollars). 

Hurricane Katrina unleashed its full fury on Stennis Space Center when the eye of the storm passed over the site. For those who were working at NOAA’s National Coastal Data Development Center (which later became part of NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information) located at Stennis Space Center, there were many personal stories of tragedy and endurance. Some staff lost everything they owned while others were left with houses and possessions waterlogged and caked in mud. But in the storm’s aftermath, many of the staff came together to help each other by moving wet items out of flooded homes, pulling up ruined carpets, and knocking out drywall. 

While picking up the pieces themselves, the staff worked with other federal and state agencies to produce several products to help the region recover from the devastation. One of those products was the Gulf of America Marine Debris Project.

Mapping Marine Debris

The massive storm surge of Hurricane Katrina swept tons of debris into the Gulf, some of it very large like pieces of the bridges that had collapsed. When Hurricane Rita made landfall in Southwestern Louisiana less than a month later, even more marine debris filled the Gulf. This submerged marine debris posed a persistent hazard to commercial navigation, fishing, and living marine resources.

To address this major problem, NOAA launched the Gulf of America Marine Debris Project in August 2006 in partnership with the U. S. Coast Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. Using funding from two Congressional supplemental appropriations, the project surveyed the nearshore waters along the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana for potential marine debris. Survey work began in September 2006 using side scan sonar to image the sea floor and locate submerged marine debris. These surveys took measurements to determine the depth and size of each submerged object.

NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) at Stennis Space Center, Mississippi, played a crucial role in supporting this initiative. NCEI hosted the project website, developed an interactive map, and automated the ingestion and updating of data. NOAA's offshore survey efforts involved mapping sonar contacts and publishing them on the project's website to guide boaters and assist in the removal of marine debris. Concurrently, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), in collaboration with NOAA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, state agencies, and local parishes, conducted an extensive survey and removal operation for debris associated with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in inshore waterways. To maximize the utility of these resources, a comprehensive outreach program was implemented to raise awareness, particularly among local boaters and fishers. 

By 2009, the Gulf Marine Debris project concluded its work as the larger debris was cleared and the waterways were deemed safe for use again. The project successfully identified and mapped over 7,100 individual marine debris items, surveying more than 1,500 square nautical miles of nearshore waters along the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. All information from this project was submitted to the NCEI Archive (NCEI Accession 0176605), where it remains accessible to both science-user communities and the general public for future use.