USGS Hazards Information
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U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey USGS Hazards Information Brian McCallum, USGS GA Water Science Center OFCM Exploratory Mini-Workshop May 3, 2010
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USGS Hazards Information. Brian McCallum, USGS GA Water Science Center OFCM Exploratory Mini-Workshop May 3, 2010. Overview. USGS Overview Water Hazards Information Flood/drought activities NWISWeb WaterWatch Streamail WaterAlert Flood Inundation Mapping USGS on social media Summary. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Transcript of USGS Hazards Information
U.S. Department of the InteriorU.S. Geological Survey
USGS Hazards Information
Brian McCallum, USGS GA Water Science CenterOFCM Exploratory Mini-WorkshopMay 3, 2010
Overview USGS Overview Water Hazards
Information Flood/drought activities NWISWeb WaterWatch Streamail WaterAlert Flood Inundation Mapping
USGS on social media Summary
USGS Overview• Federal agency in DOI• Headquarters in Reston—offices in every state• Four disciplines: Water, Geology, Mapping, BiologyWATER• Collected water data since the 1890’s• USGS Cooperative Water and National Streamflow
Information Program• Very strong programs with USACE, FERC, state and
local governments• Strong QA/QC of data and prodcuts
Priority Water Science Issues Understanding Ecosystems Climate Variability & Change Energy & Minerals for
America’s Future A National Hazards, Risk, and
Resilience Assessment Program
Role of Environment & Wildlife in Human Health
A Water Census of the United States
USGS Overview
Facing Tomorrow’s Challenges, USGS Science in the Decade 2007—2017, Circular 1309
Water Hazards Information
Flood & Drought ActivitiesReal-Time Data Networks• 9329 surface-water stations
• 386 lake & reservoir stations
• 3635 raingage stations
• 1353 groundwater wells
• 1742 continuous water-quality
Effort underway to upgrade entire network to hourly transmissions
Housing with raingage
Pressure orifice line buried
Outside gage (staff)
Water Hazards Information
Why is a streamgage important? Flood warning/forecasting Flood control Hurricane surge Drought monitoring State Water Planning Water wars Water supplies for continued growth Water effluent discharges Hydro-electric power generation Navigation Safe bridge and roadway design Recreation Tourism Long-term climate analyses Modeling
Allatoona Dam
Water Hazards Information
USGS personnel must go into the storm to accurately measure flood waters to verify streamflow ratings.
This allows the NWS to better forecast expected flood crests, which in turn informs emergency managers to save lives and property.
Water Hazards Information
Tuesday, Sept. 22st
USGS crews measuring Sweetwater Creek near Austell, Georgia
…in a boat on I-20!
Water Hazards Information
Monday, Sept. 21st
Chattahoochee at Morgan Falls Dam near Roswell, Georgia
Tuesday, Sept. 22st
USGS hydrographer preparing to measure by boat
Water Hazards Information
Monday, Sept. 21st
USGS Hydrographer inspects flooded car for emergency officials at Peachtree Creek at Atlanta (Northside Drive)
(courtesy AJC)
Water Hazards Information
Dog River at GA 5 near Fairplay
Water was 12 feet above the gage house
Water Hazards Information
Indirect measurements are surveyed to determine peak flow estimates during large floods
High-water marks are used to verify high ends of ratings and extend ratings only by short segments
Water Hazards Information
Flood measurements allow for creation of regression curves that determine flood magnitudes.
These are used for future design of bridges, culverts, roadways, water systems and more.
The lives of every citizen in the US is impacted by USGS streamflow data.
*Results are provisional and subject to change upon further review
Water Hazards Information
• All real-time data collected by USGS
• All historical data• All daily, monthly, annual
statistics• All field measurements• All peak flows
Water Hazards Information—NWISWeb
Water Hazards Information—Instantaneous Data Archive
Water Hazards Information—WaterWatch
http://waterwatch.usgs.gov
Water Hazards Information—WaterWatch
http://waterwatch.usgs.gov
Water Hazards Information—WaterWatch
http://waterwatch.usgs.gov
Streamail
Water data on request to your cell phone/email.
Send email to [email protected] and in the subject line put the USGS station number, like “02336300”
Get a reply:The latest river stage and streamflow values you requested from StreaMail. Site: 02336300Station name: PEACHTREE CREEK AT ATLANTA, GADate: 09/30/2009Time: 09:00:00Stage: 2.95 feetStreamflow: 90 cubic feet per second (cfs) Link to charts for 02336300:Stage: http://waterwatch.usgs.gov/wwapps/zchart.php?i=nwis2&&vt=uv&&cd=00065&site_no=02336300Streamflow: http://waterwatch.usgs.gov/wwapps/zchart.php?i=nwis2&&vt=uv&&cd=00060&&site_no=02336000
Water Hazards Information
Water Hazards Information
Courtesy AJC
USGS WaterAlert
Sends emails/texts based upon user pre-set thresholds
All real-time parametersHourly or daily intervalsThresholds: greater than
less thanbetween a rangeoutside a range
Water Hazards InformationFlood Inundation Mapping
Take the hydrograph (and NWS forecast) and convert it into a GIS coverage with meta data
Water depths over emergency routes, affected populations, impacted economic interests, reverse-911 systems
USGS social networkingTwitter
YouTube
Flickr
Pageflakes
Netvibes
RSS
Podcasts
Water Hazards Information Issues
Still a ways to go to better communicate flood threat
• Sheer magnitude of flood fight precluded communications
• Still some misunderstanding of how real-time data is presented
Need a better way to explain post-storm estimates of probability
• Limits of 0.2 percent chance of exceedence (500-year) flood don’t allow for proper presentation of size of event
• Have to resort to “If a flood were a cup of coffee…”
SummaryThe role of the USGS in events like
this sometimes goes unnoticed, but is a vital one
USGS is being proactive in not only passive, but active, data access with WaterWatch, WaterAlert, and Streamail
Social networking is on the near horizon for data delivery
Still have issues to reconcile with how to easily portray highly scientific data
