As a partner in the recently formed Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology (CIROH), UH Mānoa Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) will coordinate the UHM portion of the $360 million grant awarded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). CIROH was established to “advance NOAA’s science and services capabilities to provide actionable water resources intelligence.”
The consortium is comprised of 28 academic institutions, non-profit organizations, one government lab, and industry affiliates throughout the US and Canada. CIROH is led by Dr. Steven J. Burian (Principal Investigator, The University of Alabama).
The mission of CIROH is to develop and deliver national hydrological analyses, forecast information, data, guidance, and support services that will enable essential emergency management to make informed water resources decisions.
CIROH will primarily focus on the National Water Model (NWM) that will provide information for the purpose of flood forecasting. Tom Giambelluca (Director, WRRC) said, “In this project, the CIROH-Hawai‘i team will conduct research to improve Hawai‘i-specific and the more general performance of the current and future versions of NWM. UHM brings a wealth of expertise to the consortium regarding tropical weather and hydrological processes, especially for the Hawai‘i region.”
The initial release of $15M is available for specific projects at this time. The UHM team submitted a sub-proposal to the University of Alabama to fund “An Evaluation of the NextGen National Water Model in Tropical Conditions with the Aim of Improving Hyperlocal Flood Forecasting.” Guiseppe Tori will be the PI (Assistant Professor, Atmospheric Sciences at UHM) and WRRC Co-PIs include: Sayed Bateni (Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering and WRRC, UHM), Tom Giambelluca (Professor, Geography and Environment; and Director, WRRC; UHM), Ryan Longman (Fellow, East-West Center), Alison Nugent (Assistant Professor, Atmospheric Sciences, UHM), Chris Shuler (Researcher, WRRC, UHM), and Yin-Phan Tsang(Associate Professor, Natural Resources and Environmental Management, UHM).
“The University of Hawai‘i is pleased to be part of this important NOAA consortium and is well-represented by UH Mānoa’s Water Resources Research Center and its cadre of multidisciplinary experts in weather- and water-related research,” stated Vassilis L. Syrmos, UH Vice President for Research and Innovation. CIROH will also provide support to bolster UH’s water-related course offerings and graduate studies opportunities.
News release: UH News (April 2, 2022)