• Record-Warm Sea Surface Temperatures to Cause “Above Normal” Atlantic Hurricane Season

    Scientists at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center have increased their prediction for the ongoing 2023 Atlantic hurricane season from a near-normal level of activity to an above-normal level of activity. The reason: current ocean and atmospheric conditions, such as record-warm Atlantic sea surface temperatures, are likely to counterbalance the usually limiting atmospheric conditions associated with the ongoing El Nino event.

  • FEMA Maps Said They Weren’t in a Flood Zone. Then Came the Rain.

    The most common reference for flood risk are the flood insurance rate maps, also known as 100-year floodplain maps, that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, produces. They designate so-called special flood hazard areas that have a roughly 1 percent chance of inundation in any given year. Properties within those zones are subject to more stringent building codes and regulations that, among other things, require anyone with a government-backed mortgage to carry flood insurance. Flaws in federal flood maps leave millions unprepared. Some are trying to fix that.

  • Beaver-Like Dams Can Enhance Existing Flood Management Strategies for At-risk Communities

    River barriers made up of natural materials like trees, branches, logs and leaves can reduce flooding in at-risk communities. Leaky barriers are effective in slowing down the flow of the river during periods of rainfall and storing up vast quantities of water which would otherwise rush through causing damage to communities downstream.

  • Reached: Milestone in Power Grid Optimization on World’s First Exascale Supercomputer

    Ensuring the nation’s electrical power grid can function with limited disruptions in the event of a natural disaster, catastrophic weather or a manmade attack is a key national security challenge. Compounding the challenge of grid management is the increasing amount of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind that are continually added to the grid, and the fact that solar panels and other means of distributed power generation are hidden to grid operators.

  • Scientists Dig into Wildfire Predictions, Long-Term Impacts

    Wildfires are an ancient force shaping the environment, but they have grown in frequency, range and intensity in response to a changing climate. Understanding the many risks and impacts of wildfires is at the heart of several projects, with scientists whose research sits at the intersection of energy and ecology, has studied how selective forest thinning can both remove fuel for wildfires and provide plant material for conversion into biofuels.

  • Bringing Resilience to Small-Town Hydropower

    Using newly developed technologies, researchers demonstrated how hydropower with advanced controls and use of a mobile microgrid, can enable small communities to maintain critical services during emergencies.

  • One in Five Texans Lives in a Floodplain

    Almost 6 million Texans, or about 20% of the population, live in an area susceptible to flooding and one-fifth of the state’s land is in a 100-year floodplain. Texas launched a statewide effort to harden Texas against floods and rising sea levels.

  • How Well-Managed Dams and Smart Forecasting Can Limit Flooding as Extreme Storms Become More Common in a Warming World

    The United States is home to over 50,000 operable reservoirs that are overseen by dozens of state and federal agencies. As rising global temperatures make extreme storms more common, the nation’s dams and reservoirs – crucial to keeping communities dry – are being tested.

  • Geoscientists Aim to Improve Human Security Through Planet-Scale POI Modeling

    Geoinformatics engineering researchers developed MapSpace, a publicly available, scalable land-use modeling framework. By providing data characteristics broader and deeper than satellite imagery alone, MapSpace can generate population analytics invaluable for urban planning and disaster response.

  • Moving Communities Away from Flooding Risks with Minimal Harm

    As sea levels rise and flooding becomes more frequent, many countries are considering a controversial strategy: relocation of communities. A Stanford analysis of planned relocations around the world reveals a blueprint for positive outcomes.

  • Researching the Future of Emergency Management

    The research will consider emerging innovations in areas such as artificial intelligence, geospatial intelligence, machine learning, data analytics, and decision aids, to equip and support emergency managers for the future.

  • One- to Four-Family Properties with Multiple Losses Insured by the National Flood Insurance Program

    What are the characteristics of properties that have experienced multiple flood losses (e.g., percentage of overall claims payments, number of losses, and structure characteristics)? What are the socioeconomic characteristics of multiple loss property (MLP) households and the communities in which they are located? What percentage of MLPs have been mitigated, what are the socioeconomics characteristics of neighborhoods where MLPs have been mitigated, and how effective has mitigation been in reducing risk?

  • What Causes Mudslides and Floods After Wildfires? Hint: It’s Not What Scientists Thought

    Researchers believed a waxy coating in burnt soil caused water to run over the ground’s surface. They now find that burnt ground can absorb water, findings that can help them more accurately predict flooding and mudslides after a fire.

  • Florida’s Home Insurance Crisis Isn’t Going Away

    It’s hard to make money selling home insurance in Florida. For one thing, the state is very vulnerable to hurricanes, and those hurricanes are getting stronger thanks to climate change. A legal loophole has made the state a hotbed for fraudulent litigation over insurance claims, and companies lose even more money fighting those lawsuits. And reinsurers are charging insurance companies much higher fees owing to climate change-driven disaster losses.

  • Adapting to Wildfires in a Warming World

    Recent wildfires in Canada and California offer a preview of a world made far more dangerous by climate change, one in which smoke and fire exact an ever-increasing toll on public health and the economy.