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[ Birds chirping/Wind ]

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[ Music ]

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[ Frog croaking ]

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[ Boat engine ]

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>> When I think of NASA
I think of rocket ships.

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>> When I think of NASA I think

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of like space ships
and outer space.

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>> I think of space travel.

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I think of -- the universe.

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>> The space shuttle.

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>> Hubble Telescope.

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>> Space exploration.

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>> Over the last few years I
think NASA is more involved

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in just the total
environment effort.

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>> I had no clue NASA
came out to New Orleans

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and did research
about the wetlands.

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>> I'm so glad!

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I mean you guys have rockets.

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You can fix this.

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Right? I hope you
can [laughing].

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If you can land on the moon,
you can fix the wetlands.

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[ Music ]

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[ Air Traffic Control chatter ]

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[ Airplane taking off ]

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>> Here we go, new line 32032 loaded.

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>> [ Chatter ]

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>> Copy that, PPA engage.

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>> And release.

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>> Line started.

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>> Copy. Line started.

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[ Music ]

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>> I'm from Southern Louisiana.

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This is a really unique place.

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I still have family and
friends here and I just want

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to keep it safe and
protect what they have.

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[ Birds Chirping ]

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[ Jet flying ]

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>> Right now, Sam, the
PPA operator in the back,

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he's now coordinating
with the radar operator

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and they're flying the airplane.

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This particular mission, we're
imaging kind of the wetlands

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and the -- basically the
New Orleans, Louisiana area.

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>> UAVSAR has been flying over
Louisiana and collecting data

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about two to three
times a year since 2009.

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What we do is we send out pulses
from the radar and we track both

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when we receive the pulses and
exactly where the antenna was

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when we received the pulse.

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And that way we can
create, synthetically,

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a very long antenna with very
high resolution on the ground.

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>> PPA is Platform
Precision Autopilot system.

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What it does is goes through a
tube with a very precise line.

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Flying over the same line
over and over allows us

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to study the wetland over time.

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>> By understanding
how the deltas

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and everything work we can
potentially save many lives.

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[ Music ]

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>> Wetlands are important
for a few reasons.

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Probably the biggest reason that
they are important in the state

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of Louisiana is that they
help push back storm surge

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and they provide a space
between the land and the sea

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and that helps keep
the sea at bay,

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which helps keep
flooding at bay.

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>> Also for economic reasons.

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The Port of New Orleans is
big business and they have had

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to deal a lot with the wetlands
losses affecting how goods

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and services are moved up and
down the Mississippi River.

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It doesn't matter where you
live in the United States,

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40% of the seafood, it's all
fished right here off the coast

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of Southern Louisiana.

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Also, the oil infrastructure,

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especially the refining is
right here on the coast.

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So if you like to eat seafood

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and you drive a car
[laughing] you are most likely,

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no matter where you live
in the United States,

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affected by the wetlands
loss that's happening

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to the Southern Louisiana
right now.

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[ Music ]

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>> This land loss is caused
by a number of reasons,

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but some of the biggest
ones are the channelization

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of the Mississippi River
that prevents sediment

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from reaching the wetlands, the
construction of a large number

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of canals, and subsidence.

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The land is sinking.

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UAVSAR provides the kind of
broad-scale view of the coast

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that we need to understand
how fast it's changing,

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how fast the land is sinking.

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>> You see it in streets, which
are in horrible condition.

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Those areas that are
subsiding are going

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to be most vulnerable
to sea level rise.

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They're going to be most
vulnerable to erosion

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when the storms come in.

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[ Jet flying ]

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>> OK NASA 502,
I show you in the block now

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so you're pretty much just going

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to be flying on your
course, now.

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Correct?

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>> 502, we're going to do one
more circuit here for timing

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and then we'll be going inbound.

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>> All right.

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>> This particular study
today we're looking

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at delta formation.

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For all the other
problems Louisiana has,

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it also has these two
very unique deltas

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that are actually growing.

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We can look at how
natural deltas form

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so that we can understand
more about sediment deposition

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and maybe try to reverse
loss of sediments in many

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of the other deltas
around the world.

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One thing we've seen
recently is a lot

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of subsidence around the area.

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And often, right next to the
river or close to the levees,

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and whenever the ground
subsides in an area,

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it actually brings
the levees down also.

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>> Line complete, PPA disengage.

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>> Copy. Got it.

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[ Airplane landing ]

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>> I hope to keep working
on this for a long time.

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I think that we're
collecting really great data.

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One thing that's happening
is we're getting more

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and more people locally
involved in this kind of science

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and the more local
people are involved,

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the more use it will have.

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[ Bells Chiming/Music ]

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>> The levee system
goes with the wetlands.

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If we don't take
care of the wetlands

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and start helping the
wetlands come back,

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we're going to lose New
Orleans as we see it today.

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>> The practical thing

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that UAVSAR can help inspire
is the state's coastal

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restoration plan.

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One of the big complications
with the plan is

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that we don't know issues of
subsidence very well to the kind

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of fine scale degree
that we need

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to plan restoration projects.

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And UAVSAR provides us
with the kind of fine scale

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but broad scale measurements
that we need

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to advance Louisiana's master
plan for a sustainable coast.

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>> People say this is
the northernmost point

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in the Caribbean.

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I don't know why
it was built here

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but I'm thankful that it was.

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You know, we have hundreds
of years of culture.

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And what I think is different

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about New Orleans is our
culture is on the surface.

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It's not just a building or it's
not just a kind of food we eat.

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But it is everything and
it permeates our rhythm,

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our way of life,
our way we talk.

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It hangs in the air
almost like this humidity

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that is so oppressive here.

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I want to do everything
we can to protect our city

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so that we don't have another
catastrophe, loss of life,

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loss of people, and loss of what
I think is the greatest city