While predicting coastal floods has typically been limited to a few days in advance, a team of PSL and National Ocean Service researchers - led by John Albers of PSL’s Atmosphere-Ocean Processes and Predictability division - have demonstrated for the first time that operational forecast systems can be used to predict unusual coastal water levels several weeks in advance.

The findings of their study published in the European Geosciences Union’s Ocean Science could be used to improve flood risk forecasting, giving coastal communities more time to prepare.

PSL-developed drought tool adopted by National Weather Service

An innovative, experimental drought tool developed in the Physical Sciences Laboratory will now be supporting the National Weather Service (NWS) drought products that decision-makers rely on in times of water shortage.

The Evaporative Demand Drought Index (EDDI), which measures the “thirst of the atmosphere” and was developed by PSL/CIRES’ Mike Hobbins of the Hydrology Applications Division, has been transitioned to the NWS’s Climate Prediction Center as a new drought-monitoring and early warning guidance tool.