• Enhancing Coastal Cities' Flood Resilience Through Smart City Technologies

    In the face of climate change, a suite of advanced technologies can be integrated into urban design to reduce the flood risk posed by rising sea levels, more intense rainfall events, and more powerful storm surges.

  • New Nuclear Deflection Simulations Advance Planetary Defense Against Asteroid Threats

    As part of an effort to test different technologies to protect Earth from asteroids, a kinetic impactor was deliberately crashed into an asteroid to alter its trajectory. However, with limitations in the mass that can be lifted to space, scientists continue to explore nuclear deflection as a viable alternative to kinetic impact missions. Nuclear devices have the highest ratio of energy density per unit of mass of any human technology, making them an invaluable tool in mitigating asteroid threats.

  • Smart Microgrids Can Restore Power More Efficiently and Reliably in an Outage

    It’s a story that’s become all too familiar — high winds knock out a power line, and a community can go without power for hours to days, an inconvenience at best and a dangerous situation at worst. Engineers developed an AI model that optimizes the use of renewables and other energy sources to restore power when a main utility fails.

  • New Insights on Community Resilience and Adaptation

    A major weather event such as a hurricane or wildfire can have lasting, visible impacts on communities, but the longer-term, compounding effects of a changing climate can be harder to see. There are  ways that communities can adapt and become more resilient as the climate changes.

  • Strengthening Domestic Supply Chains for Critical Minerals

    The USGS is investing millions of dollars in strengthening domestic supply chains for mineral resources critical to every economic sector and every member of society. Central to this effort is a nationwide mapping effort for critical minerals.

  • How a Small Caribbean Island Is Trying to Become Hurricane-Proof

    Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events in the Caribbean and for small islands such as Dominica (not to be confused with the much larger Dominican Republic) it is an existential threat. Unlike larger islands like Cuba or Jamaica, a single storm hitting Dominica can damage the entire country – and the topography and small size of the island imposes hard limits on its ability to adapt.

  • We Rarely Hear About the Disasters Which Were Avoided – but There’s a Lot We Can Learn from Them

    We frequently see headlines about disasters. But where are the headlines covering the good news of lives saved and damage averted when disasters do not happen? Our work, now published, offers examples we can learn from.

  • Learning from When the Earth Moves: Protecting Indonesia’s New Capital City

    Indonesia plans to build a new capital city from scratch. Protecting the new city from the effects of earthquakes will be crucial. Here’s how researchers are helping.

  • Reducing Flooding Impacts in Coastal Towns

    Researchers study the benefits and costs of flood-reduction strategies aimed at increasing coastal resilience to storms and sea-level rise. The researchers will apply advanced computer models to simulate how these strategies affect water levels both on the surface and underground and the flooding of homes, businesses and infrastructure.

  • How Mega-Floods Can Be Predicted

    When floods are predicted only on the basis of local data, there may be unpleasant surprises. A new method makes it possible to significantly improve predictions - using international data from hydrologically similar areas.

  • Reforms Needed to Expand Prescribed Burns

    Prescribed fire, which mimics natural fire regimes, can help improve forest health and reduce the likelihood of catastrophic wildfire. But this management tool is underused in the fire-prone U.S. West and Baja California, Mexico, due to several barriers. Study highlights four strategies to overcome barriers to prescribed fire in the West.

  • Making Flood-Prone Areas in New Jersey More Resilient to Climate Change

    State and federal programs that enable the acquisition of flood-prone properties from willing homeowners at fair market value and then clear the land represent powerful first steps toward resilience.

  • Scientists Map Loss of Groundwater Storage Around the World

    Global water resources are stretched by climate change and human population growth, and farms and cities are increasingly turning to groundwater to fill their needs. Unfortunately, the pumping of groundwater can cause the ground surface above to sink. A new study maps, for the first time, the permanent loss of aquifer storage capacity occurring globally.

  • Protecting Critical Infrastructure During Uncertain Times

    Throughout November, the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) will commemorate Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Month. The timing of this year’s monthlong spotlight on our nation’s critical infrastructure is especially significant. Between ongoing severe weather events affecting the nation (and our neighbors to the south), a resurgence of COVID-19, the looming threat of a government shutdown, and more, now is the time to turn research into action. 

  • States Working to Safeguard America’s Most Important River

    Political leaders in the Mississippi River area are looking to form a multistate compact to manage threats from climate change, water pollution and drought-affected regions elsewhere. Twenty million people drink from the Mississippi River and its tributaries every day, and the river has led to more than 350,000 jobs and generates more than $21 billion in annual tourism, fishing and recreation spending.