Dr. Kathryn Sullivan discusses NOAA's role in providing environmental intelligence from local to global scales. NOAA monitors short term extreme events and forecasts climate trends from monthly to decadal timescales. This data informs decision makers across sectors regarding issues like drought, hurricanes, flooding and sea level rise. NOAA aims to grow its user base and scaling its data systems to meet rising demand for environmental intelligence critical to communities, commerce, and research.

1. Dr. Kathryn Sullivan
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observation &
Prediction and Acting Chief Scientist | NOAA
June 7, 2012

2. EXTREME EVENT PROGRESS
SHORT-FUSE EVENTS FORECAST CLIMATE &
ANALYZE ENVIRONMENTAL
TRENDS
2 Environmental Intelligence For Coastal Communities

3. Local and immediate – i.e. Hampton tornado Friday
To Regional and Decadal and further
3 Environmental Intelligence For Coastal Communities

4. Monthly State of Annual State of National
Drought Monitor the Climate the Climate Climate
National – Reports Reports Assessment
Agriculture – – –
& Global
Decision Decision Decision
Makers Makers Makers
Heat Wave Drought Climate
Hurricane Tracks Prediction Normals
Outlook
– – –
–
Regional Emergency Public Health Agriculture Construction,
Planners Officials Infrastructure,
Agriculture
Tornado Warnings Heating & Cooling Temperature &
– Precipitation Extreme
Degree Days
Outlooks Detection &
General Public, –
Local Most sectors Energy Sector – Attribution
–
Agriculture
Insurance
Weekly Monthly Seasonal – Annual Decadal
4 Environmental Intelligence For Coastal Communities

5. 16.3M Tons of Cargo = $36.1B
Updated Norfolk Harbor
Nautical Chart
5 Environmental Intelligence For Coastal Communities

6. Composite image of
backscatter and partially
transparent bathymetry data
collected by the NOAA
Chesapeake Bay Office with
historic oyster boundaries and
recent monitoring sites in the
Great Wicomico River, Virginia
6 Environmental Intelligence For Coastal Communities

7. The mean sea level trend is 4.44 millimeters/year with a 95% confidence interval of +/- 0.27 mm/yr based on
monthly mean sea level data from 1927 to 2006 which is equivalent to a change of 1.46 feet in 100 years.
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8. Continuously Operating
Reference Station (CORS)
Flooding In Norfolk
NOAA's National Water Level
Observation Network (NWLON)
8 Environmental Intelligence For Coastal Communities

9. 1. Grow Number Of Users
2. Scale our data assimilation
systems to meet rising
demand
9 Environmental Intelligence For Coastal Communities

10. OBSERVATIONS PEOPLE
COMPUTATION & CRITICAL
MODELING ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
INTELLIGENCE
10 Environmental Intelligence For Coastal Communities

11. Dr. Kathryn Sullivan
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observation &
Prediction and Acting Chief Scientist | NOAA
January 23, 2012