Breaking News: Natural Disasters

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With the climate warming and the sea level rising, conditions are ripe for storms deadlier and more devastating than Sandy that put more people at risk. That’s the outlook from David A. Robinson, a Rutgers geography professor who has served as the New Jersey state climatologist for 25 years.

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Empty shelves of bread and canned goods aren’t just a sign of last-minute hurricane cravings—the purchases are also a coping mechanism, says a University of Georgia weather and climate psychologist.

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Fishing-dependent communities in Fiji experienced decreased food security and loss of livelihoods in the wake of Cyclone Winston, according to a post-disaster survey conducted by the WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society).

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A new disaster investigation center housed at the University of Washington and funded by a $4 million National Science Foundation grant will collect and analyze critical data that's often lost in the immediate aftermath of hurricanes and earthquakes but that can help create more resilient communities.

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In November 1950, a freak storm spawned a record storm surge in Atlantic City and a near-record surge at Sandy Hook. Rutgers scientists are studying weather systems known as extratropical cyclones or nontropical storms, and the storm surges they have generated along the northern East Coast.

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A group of researchers at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas has built a much smaller ring laser interferometer to explore how it could detect geophysical effects such as earthquake-generated ground rotation and infrasound from convective storms and have demonstrated the technology's potential as an early-warning system for natural disasters.

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"Taking Chances: The Coast After Hurricane Sandy" investigates whether Sandy was “a transformational event, just another storm or something in between.” Topics include the meteorology and climatology of Sandy, efforts to “Restore the Shore,” and impacts on water, wastewater and electrical utilities.

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Assessments that tell policy makers how vulnerable and resilient their communities are to devastating floods and other destructive events aren’t always accurate, according to the first-ever validation of a wide range of available tools.

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In a new study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, Assistant Professor of Meteorology Christopher Holmes writes that thunderstorms have 50 percent higher concentrations of mercury than other rain events.

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Florida State University’s experts are among the best in the nation when it comes to the study of hurricanes and their impact on people and property. These experts are available to answer media questions and provide perspective to news stories throughout the 2016 hurricane season.

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Texas legislators are investigating the benefits of RAPIDO, a pilot program developed with recommendations from Texas A&M University’s Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center (HRRC), that dramatically reduces the time it takes to rebuild homes destroyed by natural disasters.

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A solar storm that jammed radar and radio communications at the height of the Cold War could have led to a disastrous military conflict if not for the U.S. Air Force's budding efforts to monitor the sun's activity, a new study finds.

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DHS S&T has announced the Next-Generation Incident Command System (NICS,) an information sharing tool for first responders, is now available worldwide.

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Could periodic forest thinning and prescribed burns intended to prevent dangerous "megafires" help conserve owls in the long run? Or are those benefits outweighed by their short-term harm to owls? The answer depends in part on just how big and bad the fires are, according to a new study.

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Seismology geophysicist Steve Roecker is using a network of broadband seismometers to learn more about the complex overlap between tectonic plates that causes an 8.3 magnitude earthquake near Illapel, Chile in 2015.

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Coastal Risk Consulting, a new start-up company formed by an FAU professor, has developed novel technology to assist coastal homeowners, businesses, and government to evaluate and mitigate risks from encroaching seas along Florida’s southeast coast as well as other vulnerable areas in the United States and overseas.

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Dr. Thomas Kirsch, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Refugee and Disaster Response, has been selected as the next director of the National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health (NCDMPH) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences following a nationwide search. The announcement was made July 28, 2016, by USU President Dr. Richard Thomas.

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Effective warnings are a growing need as expanding global populations confront a wide range of hazards, such as a hurricane, wildfire, toxic chemical spill or any other environmental hazard threatens safety.

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Well designed and executed emergency warnings can save lives, so risk experts are urging steps to create the most effective warnings for hurricanes, wildfires, and other environmental hazards.

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In late summer 2011, Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee left extensive damage in the Capital Region, especially along creeks and riverbeds. In the aftermath, several communities, including the Village of Schoharie, worked to pick up the pieces, while dealing with the impact of extreme flooding, rainfall, and power outages. The impact was very personal for Lillian Spina-Caza, lecturer in the Department of Communication and Media at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, who is a Schoharie resident. Today, with assistance from a $90,000 grant from the New York State Council of the Arts, Spina-Caza and Schoharie Area Long Term Inc., (SALT) are working to develop the “Geo to Go” interactive website and augmented reality (AR) arts, cultural, and heritage trails project.

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MADISON — Understory, a company spawned by two University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate students in 2012, designs and deploys flocks of miniature weather stations that create an unprecedented level of detail on measures such as wind, hail and rain.

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The triggering of small, deep earthquakes along California’s San Andreas Fault reveals depth-dependent frictional behavior that may provide insight into patterns signaling when a major quake could be on the horizon, according to a paper released this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

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The town hall will be held online from 1 to 2 p.m. ET, but the conversation won’t stop there – visit the S&T Collaboration Community or scitech.ideascale.com to share your flood stories & more!

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Heagele, a doctoral student in the Rutgers School of Nursing, discusses why you and your family likely aren't prepared for a natural disaster in your area.

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In April DHS S&T, the Defence Research and Development Canada’s Centre for Security Science (DRDC CSS) and Public Safety Canada collaborated on a cross-border experiment with a focus on preparing emergency responders.

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Knowing when an asteroid could impact Earth would be nice, but learning more about the impact a super volcano eruption at Yellowstone would have on civilization — and how to be ready for it — might be more prudent.

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The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System Regional Association (GCOOS-RA) has been awarded $1.8 million a year for the next five years to support data collection and distribution in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Visual data created by numerous security cameras, personal mobile devices and aerial video provide useful data for first responders and law enforcement. That data can be critical in terms of knowing where to send emergency personnel and resources, tracking suspects in man-made disasters, or detecting hazardous materials. Recently, a group of computer science researchers from the University of Missouri developed a visual cloud computing architecture that streamlines the process.

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A new UCLA app helps families cope with the trauma of natural disasters, including wildfires and extreme weather events like heat waves.

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A new three-year $1.1 million grant from NASA is helping several organizations fine-tune current red tide forecasts in the Gulf of Mexico with the goal of offering public health managers, coastal residents and visitors a forecast that better reflects coastal conditions on more localized scales.

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A new analysis of global data related to wildfire, published by the Royal Society, reveals major misconceptions about wildfire and its social and economic impacts.

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Scientists at the Australian National University have developed the Time Reverse Imaging Method to take real-time data from the ocean sensors and use that information to recreate what the tsunami looked like when it was born. Once scientists have the tsunami source pinpointed, they can use it to make better predictions about what will happen once the waves reach shore. This new method is fast enough to compete with existing algorithms but much more accurate.

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In a digital age when people have many information sources, during a crisis they won’t always seek guidance from the government or other official channels. Why not?

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Five years ago, more than 200 people lost their lives and more than 2,000 injuries were reported from the April 27 tornado outbreak that swept across the state of Alabama. On that day, 35 of 67 Alabama counties suffered damage and 23,552 homes were damaged or destroyed. The Alabama Center for Insurance Information and Research at The University of Alabama's Culverhouse College of Commerce released the 2016 TORNADO PREPAREDNESS GUIDE & INSURANCE TIPS.

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