Validating Operational Flood Forecast Models Using Sensors and Citizen Science

CUAHSI Fall 2021 Cyberseminar Series - Perspectives on urban flood resilience: How different fields tackle one of the world’s most prevalent disasters
Webinar 1 of 6: recorded September 8, 2021
Validating Operational Flood Forecast Models Using Sensors and Citizen Science

Speaker:
J. Derek Loftis, Virginia Institute for Marine Science

Moderater:
Kristin Raub, CUAHSI, Northeastern University

Session Description:
Changes in eustatic sea level have enhanced the impact of inundation events in the coastal zone, ranging in significance from tropical storm surges to extratropical nor'easters to pervasive nuisance flooding events. The increased frequency of these inundation events has stimulated the production and sharing of interactive operational forecast model predictions generated from hydrodynamic models via web-maps to illustrate changes in our coastal environment. This presentation will explore the impacts of emerging street-level scale inundation mapping tools and the ways they have been validated successfully through interdisciplinary approaches of remote sensing, automated sensors, and citizen science in coastal Virginia.

Series Description:
Flooding is a “wicked problem” that is complex and difficult to solve. Incomplete knowledge coupled with the large number of people and systems that are impacted add additional complexity to this challenge. Urban flooding is of particular concern as human populations concentrate in urban areas, which are often located in coastal or flood prone areas. This Cyberseminar series brings together scholars from a variety of perspectives and fields to share their research on urban flooding, recommendations for how to lessen future impacts or approach challenges, and highlight areas of needed research and collaboration.

Hosted by CUAHSI, this series seeks to reach scientists at all stages of their careers, policy makers, and urban flood practitioners to establish connections between members of different fields, shed light on interdisciplinary research and methodologies, and to define calls to action for both research and practice. 

Join us Wednesdays this fall for Perspectives on urban flood resilience: How different fields tackle one of the world’s most prevalent disasters, a Cyberseminar series that seeks to bring together individuals from different backgrounds who are addressing the complex problem of urban flooding.

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