Supporting the Data Needs of the Coastal Community 2: Hurricane Floyd Post-Event


11.3
SUPPORTING THE DATA NEEDS OF THE COASTAL COMMUNITY
II - HURRICANE FLOYD POST-EVENT
Sharon K. LeDuc'*
Ait Resources Laboratory
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
1.	INTRODUCTION
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is
cooperating with federal, state and local organizations in
developing tools necessary to predict the effects on water
quality of various events. The most dramatic of these
events in recent years was the extensive damage to
fragile coastal environments in the State of North
Carolina as a result of Hurricane Floyd. This event and
the runoff from this event had major impacts on the water
quality. Pollutants on the earth's surface can be
transported into surface water bodies inland and in
coastal areas. Hurricane flooding, like that associated
with Hurricane Floyd, can transport tremendous amounts
of animal waste and pesticides from agricultural lands
into a river. Pollutants can also enter the surface water
bodies via groundwater recharge during such storm
events. This event serves as a dramatic example of the
data needs for analyzing impacts. The data acquired and
presented were all available for internet access and tools
were developed to process and present data in an
interpretive form. This capability Is indicative of the
potential use and interest EPA has in the National
Coastal Data Development Center (NCDDC).
2.	DEMONSTRATED USES
The NCDDC capability will provide strong
support for many offices in EPA. Four geographic
regions are: west coast; north east; south Atlantic; and
Gulf of Mexico. The south Atlantic includes the Hurricane
Floyd area. The Albermarle/Pamlico Sound selection
links to EPA's Office of Water website which describes
EPA's programs there. Visual impacts of the
environmental concerns associated with the event were
found at multiple internet sites and provide vivid images
indicating the extent of the damage.
* On assignment to the National Exposure Research
Laboratory, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency,
RTP, NC 27711
' Corresponding author address: MD-80, AMD, NERL,
RTP, NC 27711; email: leduc@hpcc.epa.gov
The details associated with the Hurricane itself
are of interest in analyzing the event. An overview was
available along with a tracking capability (National
Weather Service). The tracking capability was linked to
visual images of other impacts of damage beyond water
quality (North Carolina Department of Agriculture). Also
remote sensing images indicate the extent of the
turbulence and runoff in the coastal area (National
Aeronautics and Space Administration SeaWIFS). The
time series showing the extent of flooding was also
available for the coastal areas. The aftermath shows
additional capability found on the web, the ability for a
viewer to navigate a scene and change the view point.
Thirty other images are identified as depicting the
aftermath of Hurricane Floyd.
Tools were developed to make further
contributions to the ability to analyze and assess the
impact in coastal areas. This capability is what is being
planned for NCDDC. The process uses the internet for
communication, accesses primary data providers to
collect and process the data. Multiple users can be
sen/iced. Three users are identified in this presentation;
Facility for Ocean/Atmospheric Modeling and
Visualization; the North Carolina Department of
Environment and Natural Resources; and the Multimedia
Integrated Modeling System (MIMS) research project of
EPA's Office of Research and Development (Johnson, et
at, 2000). The goal is to create a problem solving
software framework to support ecosystem modeling and
environmental health assessment. The modeling will
require data both for input and evaluation. NCDDC will
support the MIMS needs. The development of MIMS can
be obtained from:
http://www.epa.gov/asmdnert/mims/description.html
3. SAMPLE DATA PROVIDERS
The National Centers for Environmental
Prediction (NCEP), in cooperation with the Office of
Hydrology (OH), have developed the multi-sensor
National Precipitation Analysis (NPA) which provides an
analysis of hourly digital precipitation radar estimates
obtained from the WSR-88D Radar Product Generator
and from raingages. These data are being evaluated for

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use with MIMS (Eder, et a!., 2001). Many other providers
of data have been identified for internet access: political
boundaries, hydrologic units, rivers, digital elevation
model, meteorological observations, dissolved oxygen,
stream-gaging, and hydrography comparisons. There are
others not shown.
4.	NCDDC
The NCDDC will provide for the archive of, and
access to, long-term coastal data records. They will
provide a catalog and ensure its quality. The activities at
NCDDC will include retrospective studies and
environmental predictions. The data which will be
delivered will meet the standards set by the Federal
Geospatial Data Committee and other applicable
standards. This cooperation and adherence to standards
will support EPA in its MIMS research and in its coastal
programs.
File conversion will be needed for much of the
data being supplied by NCDDC. This may be done by
NCDDC or by the user, but is an important link in the
process. The user interface is another important feature
NCDDC will provide to users for access to retrieval and
visualization capability. One possible visualization tool is
IBM Data Explorer. A sample is shown displaying salinity
measurements taken from midstream gaging stations in
the Neuse River in North Carolina.
5.	SUMMARY
The EPA hopes to cooperate with the NCDDC
to promote the tools, data model, user interface,
visualizations and data quality that will be most useful to
the EPA and its needs. The MIMS and other programs
of the Office of Water will benefit from the NCDDC. The
Hurricane Floyd post-event Is used to indicate the needs
and concerns of EPA.
6.	REFERENCES
Eder, B.K., S.K. LeDuc, A.B. Gilliland, and P.L.
Finkelstein, 2001: On the use of NEXRAD Stage
IV data in the multimedia modeling of pollutant
transport. Preprints of the Symposium on
Precipitation Extremes: Prediction, Impacts, and
Responses, American Meteorological Society.
Johnston, J.M., J.H. Novak, and S.R. Kraemer, 2000:
Multimedia integrated modeling for
environmental protection: Introduction to a
collaborative framework. Environ. Monitor. And
Assess., 63, 253-263
Disclaimer, This document has been reviewed and
approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
for publication. Mention of trade names or commercial
products does not constitute endorsement or
recommendation for use.

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NERL-RTP-AMD-OO—221 TECHNICAL REPORT DATA
I. REPORT NO.
EPA/600/A-00/113
7 .
3.RECIPIENT'S ACCESSION NO.
4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE
Supporting the Data Needs of the Coastal Community II: Hurricane Floyd
Post-Event
5.REPORT DATE
6.PERFORMING ORGANIZATION CODE
7. AUTHOR(S)
LeDuc, Sharon K.
8.PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NO,
9. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION! NAME AND ADDRESS
Same as Block 12
IO.PROGRAM ELEMENT NO.
11. CONTRACT/GRANT NO.
12. SPONSORING AGENCY KAMI: AND ADDRFSS
National Exposure Research Laboratory
Office of Research and Development'
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
13.TYPE OF REPORT AND PERIOD COVERED
14. SPONSORING AGENCY CODE
EPA/600/9
15. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES
16. ABSTRACT
The Environmental Protection Agency (F.PA) i.s cooperating with federal, state, and local organizations in developing tools
necessary to predict the effects on water quality of various events. The most dramatic of these events in recent years was the
extensive damage to fragile coastal environments in the Stale of North Carolina as a result of Hurricane Floyd. This event and
the runoff from this event had major impacts on the water quality. Pollutants on the earth's surface can be transported into
surface water bodies inland and in coastal areas. Hurricane flooding, like that associated with Hurricane Floyd, can transport
tremendous amounts of animal waste and pesticides from agricultural lands into a river. Pollutants can also enter the surface
water bodies via groundwater recharge during such storm events. This event serves as a dramatic example of the data needs
for analyzing impacts. The data acquired and presented were all a\ ailable for internet access and tools were developed to
process and present data in an interpretive form. This capability is indicative of the potential use and interest EPA has in the
National Coastal Data Development Center (NC'DDC).
17. KI V WORDS AND DOCUMENT ANALYSIS
i) DESCRIPTORS
t> IDENTIFIERS/ OPEN ENDED TERMS
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RELEASE TO PUBLIC

IM. SECURITY CLASS (This Report!
UNCLASSIFIED
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2

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