FROM: FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY
Federal Disaster Aid to Illinois Residents Tops $126.4 Million
Release date:
July 5, 2013
Release Number:
4116-IL NR-073
AURORA, Ill. – Federal assistance in Illinois has reached more than $126.4 million, distributed among more than 51,100 individuals and households, since a major disaster was declared for storms and flooding that occurred April 16 through May 5.
Storm damage after May 5 is not included in the presidential disaster declaration for Illinois.
The latest summary of federal assistance includes:
More than $126.4 million in FEMA grants approved for individuals and households;
Of that amount, more than $109 million has been approved for housing assistance, including temporary rental assistance and home repair costs;
More than $17 million has been approved to cover other essential disaster-related needs, such as medical and dental expenses and damaged personal possessions;
More than 74,600 home inspections have been completed to confirm disaster damage; and
More than $27.4 million in loans to homeowners, renters or business owners has been approved by the U.S. Small Business Administration;.
The registration deadline has been extended to July 24. The 15-day extension was requested by the State of Illinois.
Two additional counties have been added to the major disaster declaration for individual assistance. Putnam and Warren county survivors also have until July 24 to register for federal disaster assistance. The two counties were previously approved for public assistance, which provides local governments and certain eligible nonprofits with funding for debris removal, emergency protective measures and infrastructure repairs such as building roads and bridges.
FROM: NASA
NASA Flights Target How Pollution, Storms and Climate Mix
WASHINGTON -- NASA aircraft will take to the skies over the southern United States this summer to investigate how air pollution and natural emissions, which are pushed high into the atmosphere by large storms, affect atmospheric composition and climate.
NASA will conduct its most complex airborne science campaign of the year from Houston's Ellington Field, which is operated by the agency's Johnson Space Center, beginning Aug. 7 and continuing through September. The field campaign draws together coordinated observations from NASA satellites, aircraft and an array of ground sites.
More than 250 scientists, engineers, and flight personnel are participating in the Studies of Emissions, Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS) campaign. The project is sponsored by the Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Brian Toon of the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder, is SEAC4RS lead scientist.
Aircraft and sensors will probe the atmosphere from top to bottom at the critical time of year when weather systems are strong enough and regional air pollution and natural emissions are prolific enough to pump gases and particles high into the atmosphere. The result is potentially global consequences for Earth's atmosphere and climate.
"In summertime across the United States, emissions from large seasonal fires, metropolitan areas, and vegetation are moved upward by thunderstorms and the North American Monsoon," Toon said. "When these chemicals get into the stratosphere they can affect the whole Earth. They also may influence how thunderstorms behave. With SEAC4RS we hope to better understand how all these things interact."
SEAC4RS will provide new insights into the effects of the gases and tiny aerosol particles in the atmosphere. The mission is targeting two major regional sources of summertime emissions: intense smoke from forest fires in the U.S. West and natural emissions of isoprene, a carbon compound, from forests in the Southeast.
Forest fire smoke can change the properties of clouds. The particles in the smoke can reflect and absorb incoming solar energy, potentially producing a net cooling at the ground and a warming of the atmosphere. The addition of large amounts of chemicals, such as isoprene, can alter the chemical balance of the atmosphere. Some of these chemicals can damage Earth's protective ozone layer.
The mission will use a number of scientific instruments in orbit, in the air, and on the ground to paint a detailed picture of these intertwined atmospheric processes. As a fleet of formation-flying satellites known as NASA's A-Train passes over the region every day, sensors will detect different features of the scene below. NASA's ER-2 high-altitude aircraft will fly into the stratosphere to the edge of space while NASA's DC-8 aircraft will sample the atmosphere below it. A third aircraft from SPEC Inc., of Boulder, Colo., will measure cloud properties.
One benefit of this thorough examination of the region's atmosphere will be more accurate satellite data.
"By using aircraft to collect data from inside the atmosphere, we can compare those measurements with what our satellites see and improve the quality of the data from space," said Hal Maring of the Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters.
The SEAC4RS campaign is partly supported by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. NASA scientists involved in the mission come from NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif.; Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt., Md.; Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.; and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.
NASA's Earth Science Project Office at Ames manages the SEAC4RS project. The DC-8 and ER-2 research aircraft are managed by NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center and based at Dryden's Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif
