Annual SSEER Meeting October 11th

September 5, 2024
Hurricane Beryl Hurtles into the Caribbean, June 30, 2023. Photo credit: NASA Earth Observatory image by Michala Garrison, using VIIRS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE, GIBS/Worldview, and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS).

We are excited to invite you to the Annual Scientific Support for Environmental Emergency Response (SSEER) Meeting, featuring a special presentation by David Vallee, Director of the Service Innovation and Partnership Division at NOAA/NWS Office of Water Prediction.

Event Details:

Agenda Highlights:

  • Noon – 1:20 PM: Annual SSEER Meeting & Working Lunch
  • 12:00 PM: Arrival & Lunch
  • 12:15 PM: Welcome, SSEER Updates, and Introductions
  • 12:45 PM: RI DEM Emergency Preparedness Updates (James Ball, Chief, Office of Emergency Response, RI DEM)
  • 1:00 PM: Overview of NAC-CESU Experts Database (Brian Mitchell, National Park Service)
  • 1:20 PM: Break

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM: Special Presentation by David Vallee

David Vallee Director, Service Innovation and Partnership Division NOAA/NWS Office of Water Prediction/National Water Center.

Topic: Implementation of Forecast Flood Inundation Mapping for the Nation

David Vallee will present on the National Weather Service’s (NWS) mission to enhance flood forecasting and preparedness through high-resolution flood inundation mapping (FIM). His talk will explore the development and implementation of event-driven flood mapping, which has become a critical tool for emergency and water resource managers. Vallee will discuss the NWS’s innovative methods, such as using a model-agnostic approach and synthetic rating curves, to deliver actionable flood data at a 10-meter resolution.

Key topics include:

  • The latest developments in flood inundation mapping and their application in emergency response
  • Case studies, including examples from Rhode Island’s recent floods
  • NOAA’s planned expansion of FIM services to cover 60% of the U.S. population by 2025, and nearly 100% by 2026
  • How users can access these services both visually and through GIS platforms

For those involved in environmental emergency response, hydrological modeling, and flood risk management, this presentation will provide crucial insights into the future of flood prediction and preparedness.

For more information about SSEER, please visit ci.uri.edu/sseer. We look forward to your participation!