UOG remote pilots map Typhoon Mawar aftermath with drones

The University of Guam is taking to the skies with drones assessing the damages left behind by Typhoon Mawar. 

The Mawar mapping mission is led by a team of remote pilots from the UOG Drone Corps, NASA Guam Space Grant, NASA Guam Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research and the Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center. 

Co-leading the campaign, UOG Environmental Science graduate research assistant Jonelle Sayama.

"Our team decided a few days before the typhoon hit that if we were to see some type of disaster that was something that we haven’t seen in decades that it would be our duty to help out our government agencies to get that disaster monitoring and mapping efforts done," she said. "We worked with the national weather service who provided with us the priority areas. That was mostly coastal areas. We wanted to look into wave runup as well as coastal inundation. We also wanted to hit up the northern areas like Dededo and Ritidian to see what kind of infrastructure challenges we might face in the future." 

Her team spent 13 days in flight just after the storm which proved to be well worth the effort. 

"The drone technology able to navigate into hard-to-reach places..giving us a visual from high above the sky..," Sayama said. 

The result– nearly 12,000 images they stitched together to produce high-precision orthomosaic maps spanning thousands of acres.

"An orthomosaic is essentially using a structure to motion technique to gather individual images of an area, put them all together and stitch them so we can get one clear photo of say all of Tumon," Sayama said.  

Using these maps, meteorologists can analyze the extent of the storm’s impact throughout the island without physically surveying on the ground. 

"National Weather Service is hoping to use that to maybe compare with previous imagery that we have that may be satellite or drone imagery and see what changes we are looking at prior to the storm and after the storm," Sayama said.  

Researchers can also analyze the aerial photos to determine infrastructure needs to address before the next storm hits.

But it doesn't stop there.

Sayama envisioning a bigger future for the island's drone industry. 

"This technology is absolutely amazing and it’s been a complete honor to be able to work in this capacity as well as to train future pilots to use our drones responsibly and safely," she said. 

She’s already training the next generation of remote pilots like UOG Drone Corps Coordinator Keanno Fausto who just got his certification.

"I also got my remote pilot license last year through the drone corps second cohort," he said. "This campaign I've been serving as a visual observer and for the most part helping with assembly, set up and clean up." 

The duo looking forward to furthering their skills and advancing the possibilities of drone technology. 

"We are hoping that drones are the next future technology, not to replace our fieldwork method but help make it a little bit easier and to help us reach those areas that are harder to get to post-typhoon with too much destruction that we couldn’t get to by foot," Fausto said. 

All in hopes to aid the island in the next crisis.