NOAA personnel from the Remote Sensing Division of NGS were involved in mapping the World Trade Center and Pentagon disaster sites to support recovery efforts. For New York, GPS control points were manned in Liberty State Park across the Hudson from the WTC, while NOAA's Cessna Citation flew aerial photography and LIDAR missions beginning on September 23. The data was processed and provided to disaster teams on site to aid in recovery efforts. In addition, Optech, the Canadian manufacturer of the airborne laser system, operated ILRIS, a ground based laser system, in the immediate area of ground zero. Support was also provided at the Pentagon with airborne laser data collected on September 26 and concurrent GPS and ILRIS data collection.

The missions were completed in collaboration with the Army's Joint Precision Strike Demostration Task Force, Optech Inc., and the Geosensing Systems Engineering department at the University of Florida.

There are several print media accounts of NOAA's efforts following September 11:

PERS Article - Oct 2002
POB Article - Jan 1, 2002
GCN Article - Oct 8, 2001