| NSSL collaborates with Sea Grant Extension and NWS to improve flood warnings | ||
NSSL will bring its advanced flood warning and monitoring technologies to the coastal Carolinas as part of a demonstration project sponsored by the National Sea Grant College Program, the North and South Carolina Sea Grant Programs, the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Wilmington, N.C., and NSSL. The goal of this collaboration is to enable NWS forecasters and emergency managers to improve flood and flash flood warnings and forecasts along river basins located at coastal and inner coastal areas. If fully funded, the project will accomplish this using advanced radar-based decision support tools, Web-based displays, and outreach activities. At the focus of the collaboration is a suite of software and related display concepts called QPE-SUMS, which is encompassed within NSSL's WDSS-II workstation development. QPE-SUMS has the capability to monitor, in real-time, precipitation amounts in watershed basins as small as 2.5 square miles. To do this, QPE-SUMS utilizes WSR-88D data, GOES satellite imagery, and gauge rainfall, along with GIS information and tools. QPE-SUMS rainfall maps can be fed into a distributive hydrological model for accurate river flow predictions. In addition, QPE-SUMS and the distributive model will be used for historical post-event analysis and mitigation planning. QPE-SUMS is currently undergoing real-time testing in Arizona and Oklahoma. As part of the collaboration, Ken Howard and Kevin Kelleher are working
to expand testing of WDSS-II software using QPE-SUMS modules in a coastal
environment by installing a WDSS-II system in Wilmington, NC. The NWS
in Wilmington offered space and technical help to host the WDSS-II system
using their own WSR-88D radar. The equipment installation for the initial
WDSS system was completed in November 2000. The NWS Eastern Region is
sponsoring an NSSL meteorologist to train forecasters at the Wilmington
Office.
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