Applications

The Natural Hazards Support System (NHSS) helps monitor, respond to and analyze natural hazard events, including earthquakes, hurricanes, severe weather, floods, wildfires, and tsunamis. NHSS provides a web-based portal to integrated current natural hazard information, geospatial data, and detailed information directly from expert sources. The NHSS currently contains near real-time natural hazards information for earthquakes, volcanoes, weather, hurricanes, and wildfires.

This web-based synthesis of information provides decision makers and the public with a tool to track and analyze numerous natural hazard events across the country and around the world. For example, as a hurricane nears the shoreline, NHSS users can pinpoint the current location of the hurricane, in addition to accessing near real-time information about associated stream levels, wind speeds, and tide conditions. NHSS information can also be used to analyze the potential impacts of different types of natural hazards events occurring in the same geographic area.

GeoMAC is an internet-based mapping application designed to allow Fire Managers and the Public access to dynamically displayed online maps of current fire locations and fire perimeters in the continental U.S. and Alaska. The GeoMAC application is an indispensable tool for aiding fire-personnel by dynamically displaying the most current forest-fire information available from a web browser. The GECSC developed and maintains the site.

The GECSC is responsible for the development and hosting of the Global Fiducials Library (GFL) web application. The United States Geological Survey is making available to the public declassified images from the Global Fiducials Library (GFL). The GFL maintains a long-term archive of images from U.S. National Imagery Systems for selected environmentally sensitive and scientifically important sites to support current and future researchers and policy makers in identifying and understanding long-term environmental trends and processes. These images are being released to the public through the Global Fiducials Library website to support analysis of global climate-related science and environmental change. "We need the best data from all places if we are to meet the challenges that rising carbon emissions are creating,” said Secretary Salazar. “This information will be invaluable to scientists, researchers, and the public as we tackle climate change and the risks it poses in the Arctic and around the world."

The Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center (GECSC) collaborated with the Colorado Water Science Center (CWSC) to create a common water-quality data repository for Colorado study areas that integrates the various sources of historical and current data into a standard format, and makes the data accessible to the public through a web mapping site.

The purpose of the website is to provide all stakeholders with equal access to the data and information, as well as provide an important tool in understanding changes in water quality over time. The data repository was constructed in response to the needs identified by energy producers and local governments in the northern and southern Piceance Basin to address concerns regarding potential changes to surface- and ground-water resources as large-scale energy development occurs in the area.

GECSC is working with the CWSC to expand this capability to include data from other study areas in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain Region, as well as automating data updates from the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS).

The National Fire Plan was developed in August 2000, following a landmark wildland fire season, with the intent of actively responding to severe wildland fires and their impacts to communities while ensuring sufficient firefighting capacity for the future. The NFP addresses five key points: Firefighting, Rehabilitation, Hazardous Fuels Reduction, Community Assistance, and Accountability.

The National Fire Plan Maps website is an internet-based mapping application that visually portrays the Department of Interior and Department of Agriculture land management agencies hazardous fuels program projects in relation to the wildland urban interface communities. These are communities that are within the vicinity of federal lands that are at high risk from wildland fire. The hazardous fuels program reduces the impacts of unwanted wildland fires on communities, natural resources, and cultural resources. Past disruptions of natural fire cycles, as well as other management practices, have resulted in wildfires of increasing intensity and severity. Treatment of hazardous fuel will help reduce the impacts of wildfires on communities and restore health to fire-adapted ecosystems.

The National Fire Plan Operations and Reporting System (NFPORS) is an interagency system designed to assist field personnel in managing and reporting accomplishments for work conducted under the National Fire Plan. NFPORS is used by the five federal wildfire agencies to track Hazardous Fuels Reduction (HFR) and Burned Area Rehabilitation (BAR) treatment projects. NFPORS provides comprehensive National Fire Plan data starting with FY03. NFPORS is the system of record for planning and reporting accomplishments for these two NFP key points.

GECSC personnel developed, implemented, and maintain the spatial portion of NFPORS. The current mapping tool supports NFPORS requirements in three ways: First, it provides a confident method for locating and verifying location for project and treatment units for Hazardous Fuels Reduction and Burned Area Rehabilitation projects; Second, it provides additional location-based information to the NFPORS database (e.g. Congressional District, County); and Third, it provides a mechanism for making and printing maps suited for project execution, guidance, reports, or display. The current mapping tool is a point-based system.

GECSC personnel developed the first version of the Rapid Data Delivery System (RDDS), called Fire Data Ordering (FDO), in the fall of 2005 to support the delivery of data to tactical wildland fire responders. The newest version of this application, which was renamed RDDS, expanded the functionality and content of the FDO to seamlessly support all types of tactical emergency responders. RDDS provides this support by offering a password-protected portal that allows users to quickly specify an area of interest (AOI) and then download the selected vector and/or raster data directly to their desktop. Data is delivered by the system as a clip, zip, and ship of selected vector data, or selected raster data will be made available at an FTP site or delivered via CD.

RDDS provides access to a wealth of geospatial data including a wide-range of raster products such as ortho imagery, digital raster graphics, shaded relief models, and digital elevation models. The ease of use and access to data provided by RDDS is a key to tactical emergency responder's ability to quickly prepare and respond to national emergencies.

These applications are being developed by the USGS GECSC for the Southern Sierra Fire Management Officers from Bureau of Land Management, USDA Forest Service, and National Park Service. The SWFRS application is a prototype comprehensive reporting system for all federal fires in the southern and central Sierra Nevada range. The purpose of this reporting system tool is to enhance fire managers ability to collaborate and better understand fire and smoke impacts across multi-agency landscapes. This application provides reporting forms and tools for digitizing point and perimeter locations for small fires. Dispatchers are able to enter fire information as the information becomes available.

A primary function of this system is providing real-time air quality information to the California Air Quality Advisory Board during prescribed-burn operations. The current site has web links to cameras located throughout the area which are used to view the smoke conditions.

Links to Real-Time Smoke Monitoring sites using Beta Attenuation Mass monitors (BAMs) are provided. BAMs measure particulates in the air, specifically smoke. Each monitor can measure either or both 2.5 and 10 micron particulates depending on the filters used. The web site is updated hourly with 5-minute averages from the operating site.