FloodViz - Visual Analytics for Assessment and Interpretation of Simulated River Flooding - Presentation

van der zwaag, J., Reed, D., Graschel, J., Welch, D., Costanza, K., Amburn, P., Dyer, J., Moorhead, R. J., Zhang, S., Irby, D., & Sanyal, J. (2011). FloodViz - Visual Analytics for Assessment and Interpretation of Simulated River Flooding - Presentation. 2011 Northern Gulf Institute Conference. Mobile, AL: Northern Gulf Institute.

FloodViz - Visual Analytics for Assessment and Interpretation of Simulated River Flooding Philip Amburn, David Welch River flooding is one of the primary causes of weather-related damage to lives and property. The National Weather Service (NWS) Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center (LMRFC) is one of 13 offices that run hydrologic and hydraulic simulations of water runoff and stream routing to provide river forecasts to the public to protect lives and property. The RFCs have used hydrologic and hydraulic modeling software for many years, but have lacked real-time operational tools to visualize and interpret the spatial extent of river flooding. In this project we are developing a software tool that we call FloodViz to enable scientists and forecasters to better interpret and display hydrologic information. In this presentation we provide an overview of flood forecasting at the LMRFC and describe how we plan to use FloodViz. Then we describe our plans for developing FloodViz. We expect FloodViz will be useful in the research community as an interpretation tool for river level and flood data, and also serve as a useful platform for hydrologic forecasters within the NWS to more quickly and accurately determine areas at risk for flooding. Another potential use is the emergency management community to better visualize areas to be impacted by flooding to support making decisions on evacuations.