Localized climate data: A critical tool for decision-makers

This week is Climate Adaptation Data Week at EESI. Our daily briefing series provides perspectives on how communities, states, and federal agencies use data to inform their climate adaptation actions. From the coasts of Washington to the shores of Lake Ontario in New York, efforts are underway to analyze, interpret, and visualize data to better understand how climate change is impacting their region.

As we traverse the country through these briefings, one message is clear—localized climate data is a critical tool for decision-makers. As Dr. Ian Miller, Coastal Hazard Specialist at Washington Sea Grant explained, it is very challenging for local policymakers to act on information when it is not specific to their location.

Climate Central, a science-based, non-advocacy NGO, is working to address this challenge by offering free online tools that provide maps and data on local impacts of rising seas for all U.S. coastal areas. Their two tools, described below, contain a treasure trove of information to support anyone from local to federal decision-makers and even homebuyers.

The Coastal Risk Screening Tool is an interactive map that allows users to explore coastal flood and sea-level rise risk by year or water level. The tool is equipped with multiple scenarios to explore and provides detailed descriptions of the underlying data. For example, the map below displays the greater Galveston, Texas region where the red areas are projected to be below the annual flood level in 2050. As shown in the image, the search bar in the upper right corner allows access to any U.S. (or global) coastal location. To view flood risk by water level, select Year from the “Choose Map” box at the upper left.

The Coastal Risk Screening Tool can be used to explore coastal flood and sea-level risk.

Users can also explore other scenarios like the flood severity and greenhouse gas pollution scenario by clicking the “Change Other Settings” button to open the settings toolbox.

By clicking "Change Other Settings", users can explore numerous other scenarios.

Climate Central’s second tool, Risk Finder, complements the Coastal Risk Screening Tool by providing data on at-risk populations and facilities for individual states, counties, and Congressional districts, along with a wealth of other information. Using this tutorial video, users can find their Congressional district or hometown and explore specific risks facing that region at any amount of sea-level rise from one foot to 10 feet. Complete with fact sheets (in Spanish and English) and a plethora of metadata, Risk Finder allows decision-makers to see first hand the social vulnerability of their community to sea-level rise.

The data are drawn mainly from about 110 databases, many of which are federal sources—including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS), the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Department of Energy (DOE), the Department of Interior (DOI), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the U.S. Census—and are downloadable.

This article was written in partnership with Climate Central. If you have questions about these tools or want to learn more, you can contact [email protected].

 

Author: Anna McGinn