6A.12 Plans for the NOAA/DHS Geo-Targeted Alerting System (2008

6A.12

Plans for the NOAA/DHS Geo-Targeted Alerting System

Richard Jesuroga, NOAA/OAR/ESRL/GSD, Boulder, CO; and U. H. Grote and X. Jing

The release of biological, chemical or radiological agents into the

atmosphere in the NCR could potentially kill thousands of people in a matter

of hours. To help protect life and property it is necessary to rapidly predict

the dispersion of a toxic cloud and disseminate timely warnings to citizens

and U.S. government institutions with specific safety information. GTAS is

based upon NOAA' multi-million dollar information and communications infrastructure

and capitalizes on years of experience of warning the public of atmospheric hazards.

The Project will use advanced data systems by NOAA's Earth Systems Research

Laboratory (ESRL) Global Systems Division (GSD), the Air Resources Laboratory

(ARL), and telephone reverse-911 notification systems from the private sector.

In recent years, NOAA has conducted research into how dissemination of severe weather

warnings can be improved through reverse 911-telephone notification technology. These

studies resulted in a better understanding of the correlation between the warning lead-time

(time before event), size of the warning area, and timeliness of reverse 911 telephone

notification technology. It was through these studies that the GTAS concept was founded.

By combining NOAA' public warning infrastructure and dispersion models with private sector

reverse 911 technologies, geographically targeted warnings could be disseminated to the

public within minutes of a toxic release.

Meteorological and public safety collaboration between FEMA and NOAA will be explored and

will include an interface to the federal governments contracted reverse 911 public notification-calling

systems. The GTAS Pilot will test new public warning concepts and demonstrate the dissemination

of targeted life-threat warnings.

The primary objective of GTAS pilot is to provide rapid, reliable, coordinated and targeted warning

information to the general public, private entities and FEMA operational centers. The Pilot will

generate a specific set of FEMA/NOAA operational requirements to determine the feasibility of a

nationwide GTAS deployment to support state and local government emergency operations centers.

This paper will provide a status and update on the GTAS system and plans for possible future

national deployment.