New NOAA institute to advance water and flood prediction
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has selected the University of Alabama to host a new cooperative institute focused on research and collaboration in water and flood prediction.
The new research venture is called the Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology, or CIROH. The goal of this new institute will be to provide actionable water resource information for forecasts, watches, and warnings to protect life and property and strengthen the national economy.
“The new cooperative institute will work with NOAA to research and develop state-of-the-science water analysis, forecasts and guidance and the equitable delivery of decision-support services,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. “This program will train the next generation of scientists focused on addressing water issues and emergencies on all time scales, helping NOAA build a Climate Ready Nation that is responsive and resilient in a changing world.”
The University of Alabama’s selection comes with an award of up to $360 million over the course of five years, with the potential for renewal for another five years based on successful performance.
NOAA selected the University of Alabama as the host for the cooperative institute after an open, competitive evaluation. The campus is also home to NOAA’s National Water Center, the nation’s research to operations center of excellence for water resources science and services.
CIROH will be led by the University of Alabama and will include 13 other graduate degree-granting institutions from Hawaii to Vermont to Canada.
The consortium institutions are: University of Alabama Huntsville; Brigham Young University; Colorado School of Mines; Tuskegee University; University of Arizona; University of California San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography; University of Hawai‘i at Manoa; University of Iowa; University of Minnesota,Twin Cities; University of Utah; Utah State University; University of Vermont, and University of Saskatchewan. The new institute also includes 14 other research partners.
“I’m excited to learn that the University of Alabama has been chosen to host the new Water Cooperative Institute,” said Representative Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies. “UA already houses the National Water Center, so this is a perfect fit for the expertise of the students, faculty, and staff of the university. I look forward to seeing the research that comes from this new cooperative that allows us to plan for the weather challenges of the future.”
The cooperative institute will focus on four research themes:
- Expansion and improvement of water resources prediction capabilities.
- Advancement and acceleration of community water resources modeling.
- Application of social, economic, and behavioral science to water resource products and services.
- Advancement of hydroinformatics, which is the application of information and communication technologies to address increasingly serious issues of equitable and efficient use of water for different purposes.
“Flooding is a coast-to-coast threat, often generated by prolonged or extreme precipitation," said Mary C. Erickson, acting director of NOAA’s National Weather Service. "This new cooperative institute and its research partners will help us develop and test new tools and methods to meet community needs for high-resolution water predictions and actionable scenarios to build local resilience.”