NOAA in South Carolina South Carolina Arc Users Group

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NOAA in South CarolinaSouth Carolina Arc Users
Group

• Tony LaVoi, NOAA Coastal Services Center
• Charleston, SC
• January 23, 2007

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Do You Know NOAA?
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The National Weather Service?
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The Weather Channel?
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Nautical Charts?
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Geodetic Control?
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Celebrating 200 Years of Science, Service, and
Stewardship
Americas first scientific agency the Coast
Survey was established by Thomas Jefferson in
1807 The Coast Survey was tasked to provide
nautical charts to the American maritime
community for safe passage into American ports
and along the extensive US coastline Today,
NOAAs Office of Coast Survey holds more than
20,000 historical nautical charts and continually
updates its collection of 1,000 current charts In
the 19th century, as surveys were conducted
around the nation, a national geodetic control
network was built to ensure that maps and charts
would align with one another the precursor of
the National Spatial Reference System
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NOAA at 200 Weather
In 1870, the first government agency to provide
weather observations and warnings was established
within the U.S. Army The Weather Bureau began in
1890 within the Department of Agriculture In 1940
the Weather Bureau moved to the Department of
Commerce (NOAAs current home) and by the early
1950s, the Weather Bureau had established a
Severe Weather Unit to monitor the nation's
weather patterns and prepare "severe weather
discussions The first weather satellite,
TIROS-1, was launched in 1960, orbited for 78
days, generated 23,000 pictures of the Earth, and
enhanced our understanding of meteorology This
service would evolve its scope and capacity,
becoming the National Weather Service in 1970
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NOAA at 200 - Fisheries

• In 1871 the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries
  was established as the nations first federal
  conservation agency, charged with protecting and
  preserving the Food Fishes of the Coast of the
  United States
• In 1882, the USS Albatross became the first
  government research vessel built exclusively for
  fisheries and oceanographic research.
• Over the years the name changed from Bureau of
  Fisheries and then to the Bureau of Commercial
  Fisheries
• In 1971 the National Marine Fisheries Service was
  established within NOAA

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NOAA Today
In 1970, amidst rising concerns for the health of
our oceans and coasts, the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration was created Today
NOAA has over 10,000 employees supplying
environmental information products, providing
environmental stewardship services, and leading
in applied scientific research for the Nation
NOAAs Mission
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NOAAs Key Geospatial Datasets

• National Weather Service
• NWS is the official source of weather data,
  forecasts and warnings for the United States

National Ocean Service NOS works to observe,
understand, and manage our nations coastal and
marine resources
GIS Data Storm watches/warnings, forecasts,
NEXRAD radar imagery
GIS Data Nautical Charts and ENCs, Shoreline,
Geodetic Control, Marine Boundaries, Water-level,
ESI, Bathymetry, Land Cover, Imagery, Elevation
National Marine Fisheries Service NOAA Fisheries
is the federal agency responsible for the
stewardship of the nation's living marine
resources and their habitat
National Environmental Satellite, Data and
Information Service NESDIS manages the U.S. civil
operational remote-sensing satellite systems,
global data bases for meteorology, oceanography,
solid-earth geophysics, and solar terrestrial
sciences.
GIS Data Fish Statistics, Essential Fish Habitat
Oceanic and Atmospheric Research OAR develops
NOAA environmental products and services that
protect life and property and promote sustainable
economic growth.
GIS Data Satellite Imagery and Derived Data
Products
GIS Data El Nino and Tsunami Data Modeling,
Visualization and Integration
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NOAAs Use of Geospatial Data and Applications
Hurricane Katrina Before, During, and After
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Global Climate Observations and El Niño Monitoring
La Niña Cycle Gulf of Mexico
In general, El Niño episodes increase the number
of tropical storms and hurricanes in the eastern
Pacific and suppress development in the
Atlantic NOAA detects El Niños using many
different methods, including satellites, moored
buoys, drifting buoys, sea level analysis, and
XBTs Observational data is supplied to
researchers at the NOAA National Center for
Environmental Prediction and the Global Fluid
Dynamics Laboratory
El Niño Gulf of Mexico
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Satellite Observations
Katrina became of 11th tropical storm of the 2005
season on August 24, forming off the
Bahamas NOAAs Geostationary Operations
Environmental Satellite (GOES) satellite provided
a total of 716 images of Hurricane Katrina from
August 26 to August 30 (once every five minutes)
These images were invaluable to hurricane
forecasters tracking the storm on the ground
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In-situ Observations Information to Drive Models
In addition to satellite and Hurricane Hunter
aircraft data, NOAA relies on in-situ
observations Variables such as water
temperature, wave height, currents, wind speed,
and pressure are transported from buoys and
sensors to NOAA modelers to create forecast
products NOAA is leading the development of the
Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) a
system of systems that routinely and continuously
provides quality controlled data and information
on current and future states of the oceans
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Forecast Products
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Katrina NEXRAD and National Digital Forecast
Database (NDFD)

• NOAA is migrating to a National Digital Forecast
  Database a seamless mosaic of digital forecast
  elements from all NWS field offices
• The NWS is exploring a range of new
  Internet-based standards and GIS tools to make
  forecast data available to a wider user base

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Katrina Track - 2005
Katrina made landfall the morning of August 29,
2005 NOAA maintains a searchable ArcIMS site for
all hurricanes and tropical storms from 1851 to
present
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NOAA Response Activities
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Incident Coordination Center
NOAAs response activities were coordinated
through the NOAA Incident Coordination Center
(ICC) An ICC database and ArcIMS site were
created to compile critical data needed to track
the NOAA response
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Tracking NOAAs Assets
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Aerial Photography

• Collected 12,000 high-resolution digital aerial
  images 4.5 million downloads in 3 weeks
• Uses included
• Search Rescue
• Navigation Response Teams
• Spill Response Prioritization
• Damage Assessments
• Marine Mammal Rescue
• Public Information
• Imagery will also be used to update the official
  US shoreline a NOAA mandate

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Coastal Inundation

• Post-storm comparison of
• Predicted storm surge inundation from SLOSH
• FEMA flood map boundaries
• Actual flood inundation and high water marks
  and visible debris line

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Damage Assessment Debris Estimates
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Navigation Surveys Opening Shipping Ports
Navigation Response Teams, NOAA ships and
contract vessels surveyed rivers and ports to
ensure waterways were clear of hazards Surveys
allowed critical ports and harbors to open to
commercial and emergency vessel traffic sooner
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Assessing Risks from Hazardous Materials
NOAAs Office of Response and Restoration
provided information for USCG Search and Rescue
Worked to identify, assess, prioritize and
mitigate more than 1,000 reported releases of
hazardous materials Provided guidance on vessel
salvage and shoreline cleanup assessments
utilized Environmental Sensitivity Index maps
Conducting natural resource damage assessment to
restore harm caused by major oil spills
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Land Cover Impacts and Ecological Disturbances
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Habitat Restoration Projects
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Fisheries Impacts
Ship-board surveys of water, sediment and
fish/shrimp for indications of toxics and
pathogens, monitoring of seafood safety Modeled
the movements of water masses that MAY contain
harmful agents Assessing and restoring coastal
and wetland habitat Conducted socio-economic
assessments of marine related businesses and
assistance in rebuilding fisheries infrastructure
to 15 major fishing ports and 177
seafood-processing facilities
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Economic Impacts
Economists used data from the Census Bureau and
the National Ocean Economics Program to assess
the economic impacts from Katrina Almost half the
jobs and more than half the economic output from
LA, MS, and AL come from the area hardest hit by
Katrina In the 80 counties identified as most
severely impacted more than two million employees
in 2003 created 180 billion of economic output
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Selected NOAA Activities in South Carolina
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National Weather ServiceNational Geodetic Survey
National Weather Service - Weather Forecast
Offices (WFO) Three WFOs in South
Carolina Charleston Columbia Greenville/Spartanbu
rg Each WFO Web site provides a range of maps,
forecast models, National Digital Forecast
Database links, and other geospatial products
The NOAA National Geodetic Survey maintains a
State Geodetic Advisor Program The advisors
instruct local surveyors and others on how to use
and preserve the National Spatial Reference
System The State Geodetic Coordinator for SC Jim
Harrington NGS Liaison to South Carolina South
Carolina Geodetic Survey
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National Estuarine Research Reserve System
North Inlet-Winyah Bay NERR
ACE Basin NERR
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Center for Coastal Environmental Health and
Biomolecular Research
Located in Charleston at Ft. Johnson
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Coastal Services Center
Located in Charleston at Old Navy Base
Data Development (private contract and
in-house) Coastal topography (IfSar and
Lidar) Coastal land cover and change
(Landsat-based) Coastal imagery (high res
satellite, digital cameras) Benthic and Submerged
Aquatic Vegetation Open licensing and data
distribution Application Development (ESRI and
OpenSource) Maintain 3-tier development
architecture testing lab Desktop and Internet
DSS and data distribution Geospatial
Standards Active in multiple standards bodies
(OGC, ISO, FGDC) Training Develop and teach full
range of GIS (intro and intermediate), Remote
Sensing, GPS, and metadata courses Grants Competit
ive grant programs to fund state-level projects
(CSC support includes both and staff support
data, coding)
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Coastal Services Center GIS Data for South
Carolina
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NOS Data Explorer
Search, preview, and download data and metadata
from the National Ocean Service
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URL List
NOAA Home noaa.gov NOAA 200th Anniversary
celebrating200years.noaa.gov NOAA Coastal
Services Center csc.noaa.gov Office of Coast
Survey chartmaker.ncd.noaa.gov National
Geodetic Survey ngs.noaa.gov National Estuarine
Research Reserves nerrs.noaa.gov Coastal
Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research
chbr.noaa.gov National Digital Forecast
Database nws.noaa.gov/ndfd Integrated Ocean
Observing System ocean.us NOS Data Explorer
oceanservice.noaa.gov/dataexplorer
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For More Information
Tony LaVoi NOAA Coastal Services
Center Charleston, SC 843-740-1274 Tony.Lavoi_at_noaa
.gov www.csc.noaa.gov