-------- Original Message --------
Subject: USGS News Release: USGS Has Science that Weathers the Storm
Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 12:31:27 -0400
From: Diane M Noserale <[log in to unmask]>
To: maps-l
*USGS Has Science that Weathers the Storm**
Released:* 5/24/2007 5:45:57 PM
*Contact Information:*
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
Office of Communication
119 National Center
Reston, VA 20192 Diane Noserale - [log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Phone: 703-648-4333
Jennifer LaVista - [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Phone: 703-648-4432
Need to find a USGS contact not mentioned below? Use the *_USGS Employee
Directory_* <http://www.usgs.gov/phonebook/employee>!
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-In recognition of National Hurricane Preparedness Week, the USGS has
initiated specific actions to prepare for the impending hurricane season
that runs June through October.- Improved monitoring of conditions on
the ground from flooding and storm surge, enhanced ability to navigate
in a disaster zone, and better assessments of the effect on coastlines
and ecology are among the benefits anticipated from these actions.
*Enhanced Monitoring of Floods and Storm Surge*
Four major actions are underway to prepare for monitoring floods arising
from hurricanes and other tropical storms. USGS activities include 1)
strengthening streamgages along the Gulf Coast; 2) implementing rapidly
deployable, mobile gages on streams; 3) developing capabilities to
measure hurricane-driven storm surges; and 4) installing an emergency
satellite-communications and data-distribution system. These activities
are coordinated with the National Weather Service, the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers, and other Federal, State, and local organizations.
"These coordinated actions will ensure timely and uninterrupted water
information for forecasters, emergency managers, scientists and the
general public," says Robert Hirsch, USGS Associate Director for Water.
"Improved flood monitoring and assessment will help reduce the risks to
coastal communities, property, and human life."
In 2005, many USGS streamgages along and inland of the Gulf of Mexico
were damaged or destroyed by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The damage
resulted in interruptions of streamflow and water-level data needed
during the storm by forecasters, emergency managers, and dam and levee
operators. The USGS is currently strengthening or "hardening"120 gages
along the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas. A map of these locations is
found at:_ http://water.usgs.gov/osw/hurricanes/index.html_.
Additionally, 8 to 10 open-water tidal/water-quality gages are being
hardened in Mississippi and Louisiana.
The USGS has an extensive nation-wide network of more than 7,400
streamgages but it does not cover every stream in the country.
Streamgage data is critical for emergency managers during storms,
therefore, the USGS has developed new, rapidly deployable, mobile
streamgages to provide short term, water-level data in unmonitored areas
where flooding is anticipated. These mobile gages also serve as
emergency replacements for damaged or destroyed gages.
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita vividly demonstrated that storm surge can be
as dangerous as riverine floods. In order to have information about the
timing, extent, and magnitude of hurricane-driven surge waters and
waves, the USGS has designed and developed a network of rugged,
inexpensive water-level and barometric-pressure sensors, called
storm-surge sensors. They can be installed quickly in anticipation of a
storm. This information will be used to calibrate the storm-surge models
used by forecasters along the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts and will help
them provide improved forecasts of what lands will be inundated and to
what depth in future hurricanes.
Currently, USGS water data are relayed almost hourly from streamgages to
a single command-and-data acquisition station at Wallops Island, Va.
Since this stat ion is located near the coast, it is vulnerable to
hurricanes and other storms. Therefore, to ensure the continuity of
continuous critical data in real time, the USGS and its partners are
establishing an emergency satellite data acquisition and dissemination
capability at the USGS EROS Data Center, located in Sioux Falls, S.D.
This unit is expected to be operational by the end of 2007.
*Expanded Participation in Satellite Charter*
USGS has worked with commercial satellite imagery firms to expand the
global team of government and commercial space and satellite agencies
that constitute the International Charter, "Space and Major Disasters."
This agreement provides emergency response satellite data free of charge
to those affected by disasters anywhere in the world. The Charter has
been activated about 125 times since its inception in November 2000,
including here in the U.S. for Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
*Geospatial Information*
When Hurricane Katrina left New Orleans under water, conventional road
maps became almost useless tools to locate those in distress.
"Geoadressing," using GPS, satellite, and other remotely obtained
geospatial information, proved crucial for search and rescue
operations. The USGS has established a Geospatial Information Response
Team (GIRT) whose purpose is to ensure streamlined and responsive
coordination and timely availability of geospatial information for
effective Gulf and East coast storm response for emergency responders,
land and resource managers, and scientific analysis. The GIRT is
responsible for putting in place and monitoring procedures for
geospatial data acquisition, processing, and archiving; data discovery,
access, and delivery; anticipating geospatial needs; and other related
geospatial products and services. During national emergencies, the USGS
Geospatial Information Response Team provides post-event airborne
imagery within 24 hours upon request of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA).
*Science Response Vehicle*
The USGS in Lafayette, La. has a new science response vehicle which can
be immediately deployed to hurricane sites along the Gulf of Mexico and
Atlantic coasts. Equipped with state-of-the-art satellite computer
systems it will provide critical communications when other sources fail.
The vehicle serves as a mobile laboratory, facilitating collection and
processing field samples including water quality testing on site;
receives weather and emergency information. It also provides
"geoaddressing" of 911 calls and critical infrastructure, such as levee
breaks, bridges, pumping stations. The vehicle provides living quarters
for a small team of scientists and response personnel for about a week.
It has recently been tested during a mock hurricane drill in May.
*Coastal Laser Mapping*
The 2004-2005 hurricane seasons resulted in considerable loss of sand
from barrier islands along significant parts of the Gulf of Mexico and
Florida east coasts, making these areas even more vulnerable to storm
surge and waves during the upcoming 2007 hurricane season. In the coming
months, USGS and partners at NASA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
will continue to assess extreme erosion and sand loss using airborne
laser mapping before and after all major hurricanes that make landfall
in the southeast U.S. The data are made readily available for emergency
planning and disaster response and recovery.
*Ecological Monitoring and Wetlands Loss*
USGS is developing a special website and databases of biological and
other data along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts that can be accessed
immediately for scientific response. This includes more than 70 years of
wetland change data. After the hurricanes of 2005, USGS analysis showed
an immediate loss of 217 square miles of coastal lands
_http://www.nwrc.usgs.gov/hurricane/hurricane_land_change.htm_. These
findings are updated each growing season to evaluate coastal recovery
from hurricanes and the persistence of coastal wetlands to global
climate change and relative sea-level rise.
*Hurricane Research*
Scientific research at the USGS related to hurricanes includes: 1)
radar-tracking of migratory birds during the fall migration period to
assess possible effects of hurricanes on migration patterns; 2) studying
global climate change and effects of sea-level rise on coastal wetlands
and forests; 3) predicting the persistence of coastal wetlands to global
climate change effects, including effects of altered temperature and
atmospheric carbon dioxide; 4) biogenic accretion through surface-root
production in coastal wetlands and implications for elevation change
relative to sea-level rise; 5) tracking and visualization of coastal
restoration projects; 6) hurricane modeling including models of spread
of invasive species via hurricane-force winds.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
USGS provides science for a changing world. For more information, visit
_www.usgs.gov_ <http://www.usgs.gov/>.
Subscribe to USGS News Releases via our _electronic mailing list_
<http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/list_server.asp> or _RSS_
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**** www.usgs.gov ****Diane Noserale
Media Relations, Eastern Region
U.S. Geological Survey
150 National Center
Reston, VA 20192
phone: 703-648-4333
fax: 703-648-4588
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