Research Project Full Title: National Flood Interoperability Experiment
Principal Investigator(s): David Maidment, Ethan Davis, Alva Couch, Daniel Ames, Edward Clark, National Weather Service; Richard Hooper, CUAHSI; Andrew Ernest, University of Alabama
Researchers/Contributors: Don Cline, National Weather Service; Peter Colohan, Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President; Anne Castle, Dept of Interior, Jerad Bales, Nate Booth, USGS; David Arctur, Gonzalo Espinoza, Fernando Salas, Marcelo Somos Valenzuela, Ahmad Tavakoly, Tim Whiteaker, University of Texas at Austin; David Gochis, NCAR; Cedric David, JPL; Harry Evans, City of Austin; Dean Djokic, Steve Kopp, Nawajish Noman, Jack Dangermond, ESRI; Michael Natschke, Matt Ables, Kisters; Kristin Tolle, Dan Fay, Microsoft Research; Barbara Minsker, University of Illinois; David Tarboton, Utah State University; Witold Krajewski, University of Iowa; Jon Goodall, University of Virginia; Ethan Davis, Unidata; Emily Clark, Alva Couch, CUAHSI.
Sponsor(s): National Science Foundation
Full Abstract: The National Flood Interoperability Experiment (NFIE) is a research collaboration among government, academia and industry to help demonstrate the next generation of national flood hydrology and emergency response at a new National Water Center developed by the National Weather Service. High spatial resolution hydrologic forecasting systems are being built on a geospatial data infrastructure describing the natural water flow system of the continental United States divided into 2.7 million reach catchments. Detailed river hydraulic modeling and flood inundation mapping are being carried out for selected communities and regions. Planning for using this information to improve local flood emergency response and community resilience is being developed. An annually recurring seven-week Summer Institute for graduate students at the National Water Center serves as the focus to bring these activities together and help to establish a continuing pathway from research to operations in flood forecasting for the United States. If successful, this experiment will result in an increase in spatial density of flood forecasting locations by more than 400 times compared with the present NWS river forecasting system. This would be transformative for improved real-time flood information in the United States.
Additional Links:
National Hydrography Dataset: http://nhd.usgs.gov/