Topical Breakout Abstracts

Name

Abstract

Doug Marcey

Enhancing the Communication of Risk Through Inundation Mapping

Beginning in 2002, the NOAA Coastal Services Center (CSC) and NWS have been working in partnership to develop geographic information systems (GIS) based graphical flood severity inundation products. GIS techniques are used along with the best available topographic data and flood surface profiles generated from hydraulic models to develop inundation maps of the areal extent of NWS flood categories (minor, moderate, major), along with a range of water surface elevations at selected vertical intervals. The resulting inundation map products are called NWS flood severity inundation map libraries and will become a part of the suite of new products being distributed by the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) program.

This breakout session will describe the process for developing flood severity inundation maps using recently developed methods and standards, as well as the connection of these products to the FEMA map modernization program. Examples of past and current efforts in North Carolina, Kansas, and Gulf of Mexico States will be highlighted and a web delivery application of the final map products will be demoed.

John Schmidt

Gridded Flash Flood Guidance

For several years NWS River Forecast Centers have been distributing basin-averaged flash flood guidance values under the label of “gridded FFG” in order to support operational use of the Flash Flood Monitoring and Prediction (FFMP) software package at the WFOs.   While these data are gridded in format, the values themselves are still subject to the basin-averaging of input data.  Therefore the values do not reflect the spatial variability of relatively static, physical data such as slope, soil quality and land use or dynamic data such as precipitation, soil moisture and evapotranspiration. 

The Arkansas-Red Basin River Forecast Center (ABRFC) has developed a truly gridded FFG product.  This new product incorporates the application of the NWS Office of Hydrology's Research Distributed Hydrologic Model to perform soil moisture accounting at the Hydrologic Rainfall Analysis Projection (HRAP) scale of 4km x 4km. The Natural Resource Conservation Service's (NRCS) Curve Number runoff model is used to develop rainfall-runoff relationships and calculate the threshold runoff (ThreshR) parameter. 

Tim Helble
Ernie Wells

Doug Kluck
Brian Fuchs

Subject 1

NWS Drought Information Statement Directive 10-1202 Discussion

A presentation on the Drought Information statement will be presented.  Field office responsibilities and suggestions will be covered.  Examples of best practices from across the nation in regards to drought information will be shared.  Issues brought up by the review process will also be aired.

Subject 2

Low Flow Impacts Database Introduction, Uses and Application

A brief summary of what the low flow impacts database is will be discussed.  Following this, we will show examples of how this data can be used and why it matters to end users.  Finally, we will discuss the near term future of this information in WHFS and how it may be collected.

Subject 3

National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS)

A basic and brief introduction to NIDIS will be presented.   NIDIS has many parts from data to prediction to mitigation to education.  All of these parts are integral to the NIDIS mission and where the program is head over the next few years.  Discussion will concentrate on the drought portal, pilot projects and some of the education and outreach initiatives that are particular to NIDIS.

Stephen DiRienzo

Integrating GFE, MPE, and Site-Specific into WFO Operations

Monitoring the hydrologic conditions across a Weather Forecast Office (WFO) Hydrologic Service Area (HSA) can be a challenge.  This presentation outlines how the Albany WFO uses current AWIPS hydrologic Tools coupled with Graphical Forecast Editor (GFE) precipitation forecasts to aid in the watch and warning decision making process.

Current tools in AWIPS to monitor hydrologic conditions include Hydroview, the Multisensor Precipitation Estimator (MPE), and the Site Specific Hydrologic Predictor (SSHP).  At the Albany WFO, these tools are coupled with GFE forecast data to maintain situational awareness, and provide input into watch and warning decisions. 

Technical aspects of the above hydrologic operational practice, including the creation of local river basins in GFE and how gridded data is converted into basin average precipitation forecasts, will be discussed at the conference.