Coastal and Inland FLooding Observation and Warning (CI-FLOW) Project- An Assesment of Research Outcomes From An Integrated Hydrologic Prediction System for Coastal Watersheds [INVITED]

The objective of the Coastal and Inland FLooding Observation and Warning (CI-FLOW) project is to develop and prototype new hydrometeorological techniques to address a critical NOAA service gap: routine total water level predictions for tidally-influenced watersheds. Since February 2000, the project has focused on developing a system to accurately account for water at all locations in a coastal watershed. The CI-FLOW computing framework interactively exchanges data between atmospheric, river, and ocean models to produce water quantity simulations upstream and downstream of the tidal plain, including shorelines. These simulations account for the quantity of water associated with waves, tides, storm surge, rivers, and rainfall, inclusive of interactions at the tidal/surge interface.

Within this framework, CI-FLOW accomplishes the following goals: 1) apply advanced weather monitoring and prediction techniques to the coastal environment; 2) prototype an automated hydrometeorological data collection and prediction system; 3) facilitate interdisciplinary and multi-organizational collaborations; and 4) enhance techniques and technologies that improve actionable hydrologic information to reduce the impacts of coastal floods/flash floods. Results are presented for Hurricane Isabel, the first test of the integrated framework, for the Tar-Pamlico and Neuse river basins of North Carolina. This area was chosen, in part, because of the tremendous damage inflicted by Hurricanes Dennis and Floyd in September 1999. However, the vision is to transition CI-FLOW research findings and technologies to other U.S. coastal watersheds