Geographical Sciences Committee

Meeting

Humanitarian Responses to Forced Migration and Displacement: New Insights from Quantitative and Qualitative Geographic Data

June 15, 2022

12:00 PM - 5:00 PM (ET)

Past

Discussion

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Materials

About

Our ability to describe and project human movement and activity past, present and future is improving as new quantitative data and tools emerge to understand population dynamics. However, in times of crises or other disturbances, the readiness of quantitative data often lags and can be too slow to define real-time dynamics. The integration of qualitative or thick data with quantitative may offer approaches to construct a real-time understanding of forced migration. This webinar explored these questions: What are the data (qualitative and quantitative) and tools needed to better track human movement and displacement as close to real-time as possible? What are the limits, opportunities, and errors associated with those data? What qualitative data is accessible, and what are the ethics of using it? How do we visualize and communicate these integrated datasets?

Contact

Paige Jacobs

PJacobs@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Webinar

Accelerating the Analysis of Geographic Change

December 8, 2021

12:00 PM - 5:00 PM (ET)

Past

Agenda

Download the Agenda

About

About: Human, environmental and coupled human-environmental systems are incredibly complex, constantly in flux and evolving. To adapt to and mitigate geographic change across local to global scales necessitates new approaches and technologies to geographic information gathering and analysis. Potentially filling this gap are emerging sources of novel geospatial data, which include nanosatellite (e.g. CubeSats, Planet) imagery, mobile phone data, open source mapping, georeferenced and mobile sensors, and social media. Yet, while these new and frequent data sources offer exciting opportunities to respond more rapidly to geographic dynamics, they come with their own set of challenges, which go beyond unclear sampling frames, data quality and veracity. Equally important, they often increase the amount of data exponentially, which creates challenges to quick analysis and data management. It is increasingly clear that the underlying information architectures that enable the analysis of such geographic information are being outpaced by ever-increasing data volumes.

In this meeting, we will discuss ways to approach and leverage novel geospatial data, analytics and platforms to understand and assess rapid and profound geographic change. We will discuss the geospatial data science, infrastructure and resource challenges, focusing on human displacement, movement and migration due to sudden and dramatic physical and human events.

This meeting is co-hosted by the Mapping Sciences Committee and the Geographical Sciences Committee.

Contact

Sarah Haedrich

(202) 334-3392
shaedrich@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Webinar

Gilbert F. White Lecture: The Weather-Climate Gap: Perspectives on Hazards, Risk and Vulnerability (with a Twist)

October 13, 2021

3:00 PM - 4:00 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

Presentation Materials

About

In this lecture, Professor J. Marshall Shepherd examines the intersection of weather-related hazards and vulnerability. He explores the connections among contemporary weather extremes, climate change, and disproportionate exposure in marginalized communities. He uses the lens of his scholarship, life experiences, and recent high impact events.

Dr. J. Marshall Shepherd, a leading international expert in weather and climate, is the Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Geography and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Georgia. He is also the host of The Weather Channel’s Award-Winning show Weather Geeks, a pioneering Sunday talk podcast/show, a contributor to Forbes Magazine, and the former President of the American Meteorological Society. In 2021, Dr. Shepherd was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Shepherd received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in physical meteorology from Florida State University. He has received numerous recognitions, including the 2020 Mani L. Bhaumik Award for Public Engagement with Science from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the 2019 Recipient of the AGU Climate Communication Prize, and the 2018 recipient of the prestigious AMS Helmut Landsberg Award for pioneering and significant work in urban climate. He is also the co-author of a children’s book on weather and weather instruments called Dr. Fred’s Weather Watch and is the co-founder of the Alcova Elementary Weather Science Chat series that exposes K-5 students to world-class scientists.

Contact

Sarah Haedrich

(202) 334-3392
shaedrich@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Meeting

Disaster Response During a Pandemic

May 20, 2021

12:00 PM - 3:30 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

Speaker Bios

About

Over the past year, responses to natural disasters have been complicated by the need to incorporate public health measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. In the wake of recent deadly winter storms and tornadoes and as the hurricane and wildfire seasons approach, what have we learned about responding to disasters during a pandemic that could be applied to the coming year? What do we still need to know? Join the National Academies’ Geographical Sciences Committee for a conversation with researchers and decision- and policy-makers about what a year of responding to disasters during a pandemic has taught us and what problems we are still trying to solve.

12:00-1:45PM Eastern/9:00-10:45am Pacific

SESSION 1: DECISION MAKERS

AFTER A YEAR OF ADDRESSING HAZARDS AND DISASTER RESPONSE DURING A PANDEMIC, WHAT UNANSWERED QUESTIONS REMAIN FOR RESPONDING TO HAZARDS IN THE MIDST OF A PANDEMIC?

Panelists:

Carol Moehrle, District Director, Idaho North Central Public Health District

Heather Roiter, Assistant Commissioner, Risk Reduction and Recovery, NYC Emergency Management

Steven Steinberg, LA County Geographical Information Officer

Chris Vaughan, Geospatial Information Officer, FEMA

1:45PM Eastern/10:45am Pacific

Break

2:00-2:45PM Eastern/11:00-11:45am Pacific

SESSION 2: RESEARCHERS

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM DEALING WITH HAZARDS IN THE FIRST YEAR OF COVID-19 THAT WE COULD APPLY HAZARDS AND DISASTER RESPONSE IN 2021?

Speakers:

Miho Mazereeuw, Associate Professor of Architecture and Urbanism and

Director of the Urban Risk Lab at MIT

Steven Quiring, Professor, The Ohio State University

2:45-3:30PM Eastern/11:45am-12:30pm Pacific

SESSION 3: DISCUSSION WITH ALL PANELISTS

Contact

Kara Laney

(202) 334-1954
klaney@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Lecture

Gilbert F. White Lecture: A Water Policy for the American People – Revisited

January 26, 2021

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

Martin Doyle-PowerPoint Presentation

About

In 1950, Gilbert White led the President’s Water Resources Policy Commission, identifying a set of grand water challenges facing the nation. Over the intervening 70 years, the U.S. has been transformed technically, economically, and socially, yet many of the visions by White and the Commission were prescient: many recommendations were implemented, others ignored, and some only now being recognized and appreciated. As importantly, new water issues have emerged which challenge communities, regions, and the nation. This lecture revisited the context of the 1950 report, along with the trends and events of the intervening seven decades. But it also looked at the present reality of water in America and identified some of the water policy issues most pressing for the coming decade. Finally, it explored the need and potential for a new era of engaged science in formulating A New Water Policy for the American People.

Speaker: Martin Doyle is a Professor at Duke University focused on the science and policy of rivers and water in the U.S. His work ranges from fluid mechanics and sediment transport to infrastructure finance.

Contact

Kara Laney

(202) 334-1954
klaney@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Webinar

COVID-19 and the Geography of Vulnerability

October 27, 2020

1:30 PM - 4:30 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

About

The year 2020 is illuminating important differences in the geography of vulnerability. People across the United States have had vastly different experiences of COVID-19 and the many societal stresses exacerbated by or directly resulting from the pandemic. Our understanding of the geographic spread of COVID-19 has largely been based on national-scale epidemiological models, while the place-based responses to community-level impacts of the disease have mainly been informed by local-scale surveys and reports of the lived experiences of individuals within those communities. Geographers have the capacity to integrate local and population-scale research, yet examples of this type of integration are rare among studies of vulnerability. During this meeting, the National Academies’ Geographical Sciences Committee examined the geography of vulnerability in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. This meeting discussed the following questions and considered potential next steps that could be taken to advance the capacity to characterize, predict, and alleviate vulnerability.

1. How do we study and represent social disparities arising from COVID-19?

2. How can we improve our understanding of vulnerability to alleviate inequity? In particular, how can local-scale knowledge obtained through qualitative research better inform broader-scale models and indices?

3. What gaps in knowledge or research practice hinder our ability to link information obtained at different scales and/or our ability to prioritize factors to be integrated into indices and models of vulnerability, especially with respect to COVID-19? How can these be overcome?

Featuring Keynote Talk by Dr. Eric Tate, Associate Professor, University of Iowa
Social Vulnerability and Place-based Risk

Panelists

Dr. Elisabeth Root, Professor, Ohio State University: Identifying Vulnerability from the COVID-19 Data: What is Possible and What is Missing?

Dr. Peter Smittenaar, Director of Data Science and AI, Surgo Foundation: COVID-19 Community Vulnerability Index: Capturing the Geographical Dimensions of Vulnerability

Dr. LaToya Eaves, Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee: Intersectional Geographies and COVID-19

Dr. Karen Falconer Al-Hindi, Professor, University of Nebraska, Omaha

Dr. Aaron Strong, Economist, RAND Corporation: Estimating the Health and Economic Impacts of COVID-19 Interventions

Contact

Elleni Giorgis

(202) 334-2731
egiorgis@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Webinar

Ethics and Biases in the Geographical Sciences: Ethical Dimensions of Geospatial Tools

July 23, 2020

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM (ET)

Past

About

Geographical Sciences Committee
Webinar – July 23, 2020 - 12:00-1:00 PM ET

The National Academies’ Geographical Sciences Committee will hold the fourth webinar in its series on ethics and biases in the geographical sciences. There will be two presentations featured in this webinar:

Ethical Dimensions of Using Geospatial Tools in Addressing Societal Challenges

Dr. Marie Price, President of the American Geographical Society (AGS), will discuss the EthicalGEO Initiative developed in 2019. To date, it has funded seven EthicalGEO Fellows whose work considers the ethical dimensions of using geospatial tools in addressing societal challenges. Mobile location-based applications have become ubiquitous in our society and have changed the way we live our lives. However, there are problematic and unanticipated effects of using location tech, particularly when it impacts individual privacy and vulnerable populations. This spring AGS partnered with the Henry Luce Foundation to investigate the societal implications of geospatial technology and location tracking, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this talk, Dr. Price will share preliminary findings from this EthicalGEO Initiative.

Geospatial Considerations for Community-Based Contact Tracing

Dr. Elisabeth Root of the Ohio State University will discuss the need for and challenges of incorporating geographical contacts into social network analysis to adequately contact trace the spread of COVID-19 through populations. Including geographical locations as nodes in a social network enhances the understanding of disease transmission and contact tracing by facilitating the visualization of the role location plays in disease transmission, revealing potential bridges among geographical locations and different social networks, and showing how the disease "jumps" into new social networks. Digital tools could help integrate geographical location into social networks and improve the effectiveness of contact tracing, but their adoption and use have been tempered by concerns about data privacy and security.

A Q&A session will follow the two presentations.

Contact

Kara Laney

(202) 334-1954
klaney@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Webinar

Ethics and Biases in the Geographical Sciences: Democratizing Geospatial Technology and Ethical Research in Central America

June 25, 2020

1:00 PM - 2:15 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

About

Geographical Sciences Committee
Webinar – June 25, 2020 - 1:00-2:15 PM ET

The National Academies’ Geographical Sciences Committee held the third webinar in its series on ethics and biases in the geographical sciences. There were two presentations featured in this webinar:

Democratizing Geospatial Technology

Dr. David Padgett of Tennessee State University shared his work to empower under-served and disenfranchised Black environmental justice stakeholders using geographic information systems (GIS) and related technologies. His goal is to create a portable and user-friendly GIS tool that will empower community-based organizations in their work to improve their quality of life and protect their environment.

Ethical Research and Narco-deforestation in Central America’s Protected Areas

Dr. Jennifer Devine of Texas State University discussed key ethical considerations raised by conducting research on deforestation and environmental degradation in Central America's protected areas caused by drug trafficking. These ethical concerns include protecting research participants’ safety, quantifying illicit activities, foregrounding failed U.S. policies at the root of the problem, decriminalizing Central American people and places, and considering how research products will be (mis)used by others.

A Q&A session followed the two presentations.

Contact

Kara Laney

(202) 334-1954
klaney@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Webinar

Ethics and Biases in the Geographical Sciences: Energy Equity and Location Data

June 11, 2020

12:00 PM - 1:15 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

About

Geographical Sciences Committee
Webinar – June 11, 2020 - 12-1:15 PM ET

The National Academies’ Geographical Sciences Committee held the second webinar in its series on ethics and biases in the geographical sciences. There were two presentations featured in this webinar:

Geospatial Dimensions of Energy Inefficiency and Equity

Dr. Marilyn Brown of Georgia Institute of Technology discussed the geospatial dimensions of energy inefficiencies that raise equity issues. She explored what spatial analytics reveals about the equity aspects of energy policies and transitions.

Personal Location Masking as a Source of Geodata Bias

Dr. Dara Seidl of Globechalk Consulting examined the introduction of bias in geographic datasets that results from personal location masking. She also addressed what leads individuals to mask their locations and how these motivations are evolving as widespread location collection gains more media attention.

A Q&A session followed the two presentations. We regret that, because of a technical difficulty, this session was not recorded.

Contact

Kara Laney

(202) 334-1954
klaney@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Webinar

An Overview of the Ethics Landscape in the Geographical Sciences

May 14, 2020

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

Richardson Presentation

About

Dr. Doug Richardson of Harvard University presented an overview of the ethics landscape in the geographical sciences. This webinar was the first in a series on ethics and biases in the geographical sciences organized by the National Academies’ Geographical Sciences Committee. Dr. Richardson introduced a wide range of ethical considerations and questions typically involved in the conduct of geographical and geospatial research. He focused the discussion on examples of currently pressing ethical issues involving privacy, dual use research, and inter-generational ethical considerations now facing the geographical sciences. The potential for linkages and interactions between ethics and human rights in the geographical sciences were also addressed.

Video

Webinar Recording

Contact

Elleni Giorgis

EGiorgis@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Lecture

2019 Gilbert F. White Lecture

November 18, 2019

5:30 PM - 6:30 PM (ET)

Past

About

Geographical sciences have been instrumental at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national laboratories for addressing the nation’s energy, environment, and national security missions. In turn, over the last 75 years, the national laboratories have made key contributions to the development and applications of many areas in geographical and mapping sciences; from the early roots of geographical science in addressing basic scientific problems, to applications for an increasing diversity of problems of national priority including monitoring effects of nuclear testing, survey of nationwide energy reserves, environmental restoration, and response to national emergencies. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has been a pioneer in embracing geography as a key disciplinary competency. As ORNL emerged as the leader in the world of high-performance computing, it presented a unique opportunity to explore the possibilities of employing the world’s largest supercomputers to emerging computational approaches in geographical sciences. This presentation will explore how research and development at a DOE national laboratory continues to shape the world of geographic data and geospatial computing to deliver novel real-world applications and address some of the compelling societal challenges in population and urban dynamics, sustainable energy and mobility, and climate change science.

Speaker

Dr. Budhendra “Budhu” Bhaduri is a Corporate Research Fellow and the director of the National Security Emerging Technologies Division at ORNL. He holds professorial appointments with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Over his career, he has catalyzed the integration of geographical sciences in the laboratory’s and DOE’s mission. Dr. Bhaduri’s research has had global impact and has benefited the U.S. federal missions, international organizations, and private foundations. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and currently serves on the Geographical Sciences Committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Video Recordings

Lecture Recording

Contact

Kara Laney

(202) 334-1954
klaney@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Workshop

Workshop on Federal Landscape of Geographical and Mapping Science

November 18, 2019

10:00 AM - 5:50 PM (ET)

Past

Agenda

Download the Agenda

About

On November 18, 2019, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop on the federal landscape of geographical and mapping science. The workshop, which was hosted by the Geographical Sciences Committee and the Mapping Science Committee, covered three topics of national importance:

mapping the new Arctic
geographic analyses of human contributions to flooding
smart technologies and communities

Contact

Kara Laney

(202) 334-1954
klaney@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Meeting

Effects of Energy Transition on Opportunities in Rural America

May 1, 2019

9:15 AM - 4:30 PM (ET)

Past

Agenda

Download the Agenda

About

Effects of Energy Transition on Opportunities in Rural America

Although the US population is predominantly (>80%) urban, rural America will continue to play a critical role in shaping future national development. The nation's dependence on its rural people and landscapes is highlighted by the fact that energy, water, minerals, and biomass resources (food and fiber) will come largely from rural areas.

The energy sector is changing, with renewable sources supplying an increasing proportion of total energy and new technologies altering methods and locations of hydrocarbon extraction. What will be the ripple effects of this energy transition on rural lands and rural Americans? This is an inherently geographical question, as energy-related changes and their effects will differ at different locations. Moreover, geographers integrate component parts of a landscape system to understand their interactions and predict multi-faceted outcomes. In this case, the landscape system is rural America and the outcomes are not only the direct economic benefits of energy production, but also opportunities to enhance the many other functions of the rural landscape and its rural communities in the process of energy transition.

What types of changes related to energy transition have already been observed in rural areas?
What are the ripple effects of these changes to rural communities and states?
What new opportunities in rural areas are expected to be associated with this transition?
What new geographic patterns (e.g., of economic activity, human migration, environmental costs and benefits) are emerging (or expected to emerge) as a result of the energy transition?

This meeting convened experts to speak to these questions and their implications for the future. They addressed the current state of knowledge on relationships between energy resource development and other elements of the rural landscape system.

Contact

Elleni Giorgis

(202) 334-2731
egiorgis@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Lecture

2018 Gilbert F. White Lecture

December 7, 2018

6:00 PM - 7:00 PM (ET)

Past

About

A Turn to the Territories featuring a Cautionary Tale of the 2009 American Samoa Tsunami

As sea surface temperatures rise, we are ever mindful of how this process fuels larger and more frequent storms and storm surges in the world’s oceans. These storms grab headlines, but also the attention of policy makers, if only briefly and often in a reactionary rather than prescriptive sense. In the United States, rarely are we focused on the U.S. Territories, where U.S. citizens and nationals are also deeply affected. This talk argues that we have yet to use past experiences in the U.S. Territories to fully enrich our knowledge of hazard adaptation and in ways that will improve our policy, practice, and decision-making. The American Samoa earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent flooding of September 2009 is fully described as an example, a cautionary tale, and hopeful fodder for rich discussion. It is based on the speaker’s personal experience in the region and in the spirit of Gilbert White’s deep commitment to water management in developing regions, in addition to the United States.

Speaker

Dr. Dawn Wright is Chief Scientist of the Environmental Systems Research Institute ( Esri), a world-leading geographic information system (GIS) software and data science company. Esri’s mission is to inspire and enable people to positively impact their future by connecting them with the geoanalytic knowledge needed to make the critical decisions shaping the planet. Hence, Esri believes geography is at the heart of a more resilient and sustainable future. Dawn works to strengthen the scientific foundation for Esri software and services, while representing Esri to the national and international scientific community. She assumed this post in October 2011 after 17 years as a professor of geography and oceanography at Oregon State University, where she maintains an affiliated faculty appointment.

Dawn’s research interests include geospatial data science, seafloor mapping, and environmental education. She has authored or co-authored more than 150 articles and 10 books on marine geographic information systems, hydrothermal activity and tectonics of mid-ocean ridges, and coastal/ocean informatics. Dawn has participated in over 20 oceanographic research expeditions worldwide, which have taken her to some of the most geologically active regions of the planet.

Dawn’s recent advisory board service includes the NOAA Science Advisory Board, the Science Advisory Board of Conservation International, the Ocean Studies Board of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the Ocean Discovery XPRIZE, and many journal editorial boards. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Geological Society of America, the California Academy of Sciences, and Stanford’s Leopold Leadership Program, as well as a former Oregon Professor of the Year. She holds a Ph.D. in physical geography and marine geology from the University of California, Santa Barbara, an M.S. in oceanography from Texas A&M University, and a B.S. cum laude in geology from Wheaton College (Illinois).

Video Recording

Watch Lecture

Contact

Kara Laney

(202) 334-1954
klaney@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

Meeting

Vulnerability of U.S. Energy Infrastructure to Coastal Flooding

December 6, 2018

1:30 PM - 5:00 PM (ET)

Past

Materials

About

Essential components of energy infrastructure are located along U.S. coastlines, where the increasing probability for storm damage creates a pressing need to plan ahead to minimize disruption to the nation's energy systems. NOAA predicts that under what is now considered an intermediate scenario high-tide flooding will become daily flooding (365 days/year with high-tide flooding) for nearly all coastal regions. Strauss and Ziemlinski (2012) identified 287 energy facilities in the lower 48 U.S. states at coastal elevations within 4 feet of ordinary high-tide level. These facilities lie at elevations at which NOAA classifies probable flood impacts to infrastructure as minor (about 1.5 feet), moderate (about 2.5 feet), and major (4 feet) at these heights above average daily highest tide.

Energy infrastructure that could be affected by coastal flooding (as analyzed by Strauss and Ziemlinski, 2012) includes natural gas infrastructure, electric power plants, and oil and gas refineries in 22 states. More than half of the vulnerable facilities (most for natural gas) are located in Louisiana, while Florida, California, New York, Texas, and New Jersey each have 10 to 30 sites within 4 feet of the high-tide level. On-shore coastal energy infrastructure also includes the electrical grid, pipelines, and port facilities. Consequences of coastal flooding range from local power outages and unavailability of petroleum products to broader-scale power losses, economic stress, and ripple effects of those changes, such as effects to health care facilities and communications.

From the 2005 hurricanes Rita and Katrina, the oil industry learned that closures of gas-processing plants were caused not only by flooding, debris, and destruction of equipment, but also by external conditions, such as lack of electricity, inaccessibility of the plant site because of road damage or other problems, lack of upstream supplies to the processing plant caused by production shut-ins or pipeline problems, and downstream problems related to the disposal of natural gas liquids or Y-grade liquids (DOE, 2006). Because flood depths are predicted to increase as sea level rises, the frequency and severity of coastal flooding is expected to increase and storm surges are expected to extend farther inland. As one example, for southeastern Florida, a Union of Concerned Scientists report (2015) predicted a doubling of the number of major substations exposed to flooding from a Category 3 storm by 2050 and tripling by 2070. The need to prepare the nation's energy systems to withstand new regimes of coastal flooding is evident but complicated by politically, economically, socially, and environmentally difficult choices.

Video Recordings

Introduction
Marilyn Brown, Georgia Institute of Technology

Climate Change, Coastal Flooding, and the Electric Power Grid
Frank Felder, Rutgers University

Oregon's Energy Sector Vulnerabilities
Yumei Wang, Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries

Sea Level and Storm Surge Exposure of Coastal Energy Assets: Insights from Port and Water Infrastructure Assessments from Norfolk to Charleston
Tom Allen, Old Dominion University

Panel Discussion

Contact

Kara Laney

(202) 334-1954
klaney@nas.edu

Disclaimer

It is essential to the National Academies mission of providing evidence-based advice that participants in any of our meetings or events avoid political or partisan statements or commentary and maintain a culture of mutual respect. The statements and presentations during our meetings or events are solely those of the individual participants and do not necessarily represent the views of other participants or the National Academy of Sciences, which is a non-partisan, tax exempt organization that includes under its Charter the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine, and that operates the National Research Council.

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Geographical Sciences Committee

Humanitarian Responses to Forced Migration and Displacement: New Insights from Quantitative and Qualitative Geographic Data

Accelerating the Analysis of Geographic Change

Gilbert F. White Lecture: The Weather-Climate Gap: Perspectives on Hazards, Risk and Vulnerability (with a Twist)

Disaster Response During a Pandemic

Gilbert F. White Lecture: A Water Policy for the American People – Revisited

COVID-19 and the Geography of Vulnerability

Ethics and Biases in the Geographical Sciences: Ethical Dimensions of Geospatial Tools

Ethics and Biases in the Geographical Sciences: Democratizing Geospatial Technology and Ethical Research in Central America

Ethics and Biases in the Geographical Sciences: Energy Equity and Location Data

An Overview of the Ethics Landscape in the Geographical Sciences

2019 Gilbert F. White Lecture

Workshop on Federal Landscape of Geographical and Mapping Science

Effects of Energy Transition on Opportunities in Rural America

2018 Gilbert F. White Lecture

Vulnerability of U.S. Energy Infrastructure to Coastal Flooding