Conference: Planning and Development of a Nearshore Extreme Event Reconnaissance (NEER); Arlington, Virginia; August 5-6, 2019

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA

Investigators

Abstract

This grant funds a conference to be held August 5-6, 2019 in Arlington, Virginia, titled Planning and Development of a Nearshore Extreme Event Reconnaissance (NEER). The objective of the conference is to bring together experienced members of the extreme event community, and a broad group of scientists to develop a coordinated effort to address key hypotheses, to support pre- and post-storm site characterization and collection of socio-economic data, to plan for deployment of instruments to record during-storm measurements, to consider interactions and feedbacks between the natural and built environments and human actions and reactions, and to enable safe, pre- and post-storm activities. This scientific research contribution thus supports NSF's mission to promote the progress of science and to advance our national welfare. In this case, the benefits will be insights to improve resilience of coastal communities, which will save lives and economic losses. The framework for a coordinated response to extreme coastal storms that is developed during this conference will enable collection of perishable data needed to understand storm impacts on the natural and built environments and human residents which ultimately will lead to more resilient coastal communities. During the conference, participants will meet in groups of 5 to 8 where smaller groups will focus on: 1) organizational structure, 2) protocols, 3) issues for pre-event deployments, and 4) integration and coordination. This conference connects researchers from several disciplines who study the impacts of hazardous storms enabling convergence of research methods and ideas within the fields of engineering, geosciences, biology, and socio-economics. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.