NOAA researchers will test a total water level prediction system in North Carolina as Hurricane Irene approaches. The Coastal and Inland Flooding Observation and Warning (CI-FLOW) system captures the complex interaction between waves, tides, river flows, and storm surge to produce total water level simulations that will improve forecasts for inland and coastal flooding events to help users react, respond, and recover.

CI-FLOW’s unique interdisciplinary team is led by researchers from the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory and includes local, state, regional, academic, and federal partners, emergency managers, and outreach and education specialists. The CI-FLOW system is  focused on the Tar-Pamlico and Neuse river basins of North Carolina, but the goal is to expand CI-FLOW research and technologies to other U.S. coastal watersheds.

The CI-FLOW system routinely collects weather, river, tide and ocean observations to be used in an interactive exchange between atmospheric, river and ocean models. Researchers and forecasters can access real-time simulations of coastal water levels for the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season on a secure website.

The CI-FLOW project addresses a critical NOAA service gap: routine total water level predictions for tidally-influenced watersheds; and has a vision to transition CI-FLOW research findings and technologies to other U.S. coastal watersheds. This real-time demonstration will offer valuable insight on the accuracy and utility of total water level predictions for communities in the coastal plain of the Tar-Pamlico and Neuse Rivers and the Pamlico Sound.

The system is used by National Weather Service Forecast Offices in North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as the NWS Southeast River Forecast Center. Additional NOAA partners include NOAA Sea Grant College Program, North Carolina and South Carolina Sea Grant Programs, NWS Office of Hydrologic Development, NOAA Coastal Services Center, NOAA in the Carolinas, NOAA National Ocean Service Coast Survey Development Laboratory, and Texas Sea Grant. See a full list of the partners at www.nssl.noaa.gov/ciflow.

Watch a video about CI-FLOW on YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/user/NOAAWP#p/c/CFE1C624F9360379/10/J276vYNcyxA

Learn more about NOAA hurricane research at http://researchmatters.noaa.gov/news/Pages/Hurricanes2011.aspx.  

Read about a North Carolina Sea Grant hurricane researcher at http://new.hq.oar.noaa.gov/news/Pages/SpencerRogers.aspx.  

On the Web:
http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/ciflow