Coastal Services Center

Coastal Hazards: A Toolkit of Services

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Helping communities prepare for and respond to coastal hazards is an important role for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coastal Services Center.

The Center’s toolkit of services for state and local organizations allows users to quickly find the hazard-related information they need, effectively apply it, and visually showcase the results to their constituents and other end users.

The coastal hazards toolkit of services provides

• Data and information
• Data analysis
• Visualization tools

Coastal communities have the potential to face any number of hazards, from hurricanes and coastal storms to sea level rise and inland flooding. Each community will benefit from up-to-date information and state-of-the-art decision-support tools. These products and services help coastal regions prepare for and react to both chronic episodic events and longer-term climate change issues such as sea-level rise.

Data and Information

Get the right data quickly and easily. Good data provide the foundation for good decision making. But the variety of data available can be staggering, from weather forecasts and model guidance to historical shoreline maps and census data.

The NOAA Coastal Services Center finds the appropriate data needed by coastal organizations and makes these data easy to access. The data come from various sources, including other federal agencies, the private sector, and local entities. The resulting package is confidently relied on during all stages of coastal hazard activities.

Spatial Data Storm Mapping Tutorial Storm Data Resource Guide Topographic Data Land Cover and Change Data Historical Hurricane Tracks On-line Mapping Tool Flood Forecast Mapping: Tar River Basin, North Carolina Shoreline Data

Information and Training Coastal Storms Program Social Science Information Coastal Climatology Information GIS Training Coastal Inundation Training Harmful Algal Blooms Forecast Hurricane Planning and Impact Assessment Reports Lessons Learned Regarding the Use of Spatial Data and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) during Hurricane Floyd HURREVAC: A Quick Reference Guide Ecological Impacts of Storms

Data Analysis

Turn data into usable information. Now that you have the data, what happens next? Data overload can be confusing for analysts and practitioners; not using the data to the fullest extent is another common problem. NOAA provides tools and methods that turn raw data into the information needed to make critical decisions, such as assessing a community’s risks and vulnerabilities and developing mitigation strategies. Other analysis tools are used to simulate storm surge and wind scenarios, develop evacuation strategies, predict impacts, and investigate and implement mitigation planning.

Community Vulnerability Assessment Tool Vulnerability Assessment Techniques and Applications Statewide Hazard Risk and Vulnerability Assessment for the State of Rhode Island The Coastal Zone Management Role in Managing Hazards Training Course

Visualization

Communicate opportunities through visualizations. Often the best way to explain a concept is to draw a picture. Data visualization can take on many forms, from paper maps to Internet mapping, for various uses.

NOAA provides numerous ways to effectively present geospatial data, from software tools that pinpoint the hazards most likely to impact a specific property, to maps that show people how various flood scenarios will affect their communities.

Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Tool Oregon Coastal Inundation Visualization Tool Protecting Our Ports and Harbors Hurricane Evacuation Zone Maps Tool Hazard Assessment Tools Hazard Education and Awareness Tool: Tsunami Hazard Information Service