CERA-Atlantic Storm Surge Web Page: Improvements for 2013 Based on EM Feedback

Jessica Losego has worked extensively with the North Carolina emergency management (EM) community since starting as a meteorologist at the University of North Carolina seven years ago. During this time, she developed and managed the NC-FIRST weather education and information program for EMs in North Carolina. Since it began in 2007, over 1,000 users in the EM community have been trained, and NC-FIRST is now a standard tool used across the state. In addition to NC-FIRST, Jessica now works on the collaborative Weather and Emergency Management project funded by NOAA to learn about the critical decisions and use of weather information by the entire EM community, not just county directors, to help NWS improve decision support. Jessica earned a B.S. in Meteorology from Penn State and a M.S. in meteorology from the University of Oklahoma. She also has received a graduate certificate from UNC in Disaster Management and Community Preparedness

The CI-FLOW Project: A System for Total Water Level Prediction from the Summit to the Sea

Kildow et al. (2009) reported that coastal states support 81% of the U.S. population and generate 83 percent [$11.4 trillion (U.S. dollars) in 2007] of U.S. gross domestic product. Population trends show that a majority of coastal communities have transitioned from a seasonal, predominantly weekend, tourist-based economy to a year-round, permanently based, business economy where industry expands along shorelines and the workforce commutes from inland locations. As a result of this transition, costs associated with damage to the civil infrastructure and disruptions to local and regional economies due to coastal flooding events are escalating, pushing requirements for a new generation of flood prediction technologies and hydrologic decision support tools

Modeling and Planning for Storm Surge (Panel)

Jessica Losego discussed the CERA (Coastal Emergency Risk Assessment)-Atlantic portal that is part of the DHS Coastal Hazards Center of Excellence housed at UNC Chapel Hill. She showed examples of the five-day forecasts that are generated based on ADCIRC coastal circulation and storm surge models that produce deterministic wave and surge forecasts. The layers of the map include storm track, water height, waves, wind speed and gauge stations located on a Google map. The format allows a user to click on any part of the map and find a legend with corresponding colors that indicate inundation and how a particular area will be affected. While this website has been available for several years, recent improvements have been made in response to feedback from emergency managers. They found that emergency managers need information 72 hours before landfall and they need a best guess for decision-making. The onset of tropical force wind is important to emergency managers and although there are many ways to get the hurricane track, it is hard to get information about river flooding and connect that to surge. New changes include color scale changes and more intuitive page design..

CERA-Atlantic Storm Surge Web Page: Improvements for 2013 Based on EM Feedback

Jessica Losego has worked extensively with the North Carolina emergency management EM) community since starting as a meteorologist at the University of North Carolina seven ears ago. During this time she developed and managed the NC-FIRST weather education nd information program for EMs in North Carolina. Since it began in 2007 over 1 000 users n the EM community have been trained and NC-FIRST is now a standard tool used across he state. In addition to NC-FIRST Jessica now orks on the collaborative Weather and Emergency anagement project funded by NOAA to learn bout the critical decisions and use of weather information y the entire EM community not just ounty directors to help NWS improve decision upport. Jessica earned a B.S. in Meteorology from enn State and a M.S. in meteorology from the University f Oklahoma. She also has received a graduate ertificate from UNC in Disaster Management nd Community Preparedness

Modeling and Planning for Storm Surge (Panel)

Jessica Losego discussed the CERA (Coastal Emergency Risk Assessment)-Atlantic portal that is \n\npart of the DHS Coastal Hazards Center of Excellence housed at UNC Chapel Hill. She showed \n\nexamples of the five-day forecasts that are generated based on ADCIRC coastal circulation and \n\nstorm surge models that produce deterministic wave and surge forecasts. The layers of the map \n\ninclude storm track, water height, waves, wind speed and gauge stations located on a Google \n\nmap. The format allows a user to click on any part of the map and find a legend with corresponding colors that indicate inundation and how a particular area will be affected. While this website \n\nhas been available for several years, recent improvements have been made in response to feedback from emergency managers. They found that emergency managers need information 72 \n\nhours before landfall and they need a best guess for decision-making. The onset of tropical force \n\nwind is important to emergency managers and although there are many ways to get the hurricane \n\ntrack, it is hard to get information about river flooding and connect that to surge. New changes include color scale changes and more intuitive page design..

The Impacts of Lightning Beyond the Troposphere

We propose that the upcoming Decadal Survey on Solar and Space Physics describe prominent contributions of lightning and its impacts beyond the troposphere, particularly within the NASA Heliophysics portfolio. We present a brief review of several topics highly relevant to NSF and NASA. We opt to unify these topics into one white paper, with longer reviews/references included