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Hurricane Katrina took the world by

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storm when it ravaged Louisiana and

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surrounding states in late August of

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2005

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Katrina's effects were far-reaching and

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researchers continue to uncover new

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areas of devastation left in her wake

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the storm incubated very very rapidly

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and intensified very very rapidly to a

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very very strong hurricane and you

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couldn't really find anywhere you could

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escape from this thing it was just

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simply enormous the urban effects of the

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storm are well-known but Katrina had a

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huge impact on regional forests as well

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using data from NASA's Landsat and Terra

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satellites a group of researchers have

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estimated that Hurricane Katrina killed

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or severely damaged 320 million large

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trees in Gulf Coast forests scientists

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study images like these from NASA's

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Landsat satellite to assess the extent

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of the vegetation loss brought on by the

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storm the change in color from bright

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green to bright red shows researchers

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where trees were killed or damaged we

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think of these storms as producing giant

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waves that come in and inundate

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coastlines and we think of the heavy

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rains that flood but the winds are a

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third very powerful facet of these

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systems and a storm like Katrina

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projected a very high amount of wind far

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inland and furthermore with the heavy

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rains that Katrina created that soils

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became saturated and so these trees are

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more likely to be blown over when the

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root systems are loosened up Katrina's

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powerful winds affected 5 million acres

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of forest across Mississippi Louisiana

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and Alabama

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scientists regard young healthy forests

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as carbon sinks forests play a vital

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role in removing carbon dioxide from the

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atmosphere through photosynthesis

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vegetation killed by a storm like

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Katrina decomposes over time reversing

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the carbon storage process and making

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the forest a carbon source researchers

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conclude that the loss of so many trees

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in Gulf Coast forests will be a net

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source of carbon dioxide to the

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the 2005 hurricane season will long be

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remembered for the devastation of

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Hurricane Katrina in this climate of

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intensified storms many are wondering is

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Katrina just the first taste of what's

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to come is global warming creating more

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frequent more intense storms there's

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basically two camps of scientists that

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have developed you've got one campus

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scientists that firmly believes that

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years like 2005 are a harbinger and a

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signal a sign of what humans have been

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doing to warm the climate and there are

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other groups of scientists or are

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skeptical of this they think that there

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are natural cycles that control the

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frequency of hurricanes scientists like

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myself believes that both groups of

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scientists have some merit what NASA

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brings to the table is a very

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sophisticated suite of remote sensors

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that are able to image the clouds in the

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ocean in an unprecedent level of detail

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we can now see through cloud layers and

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we can take cat scans literally of the

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inside of the storm we can throw the

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veil off and see all these workings of

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the engine for the first time the earth

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is a complex system whether revealing

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the inner workings of a storm or

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providing a window onto the devastation

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it causes NASA's sensors help scientists