Coastal flooding challenge uses cross-agency data
Connecting state and local government leaders
NASA announced it will include a challenge focused on coastal flooding as part of its third annual International Space Apps Challenge
NASA recently announced a new challenge focusing on coastal flooding to encourage entrepreneurs, technologists, and developers to create visualizations and simulations that will help people understand their exposure to coastal-inundation hazards and other vulnerabilities.
The challenge will be included as part of the third annual International Space Apps Challenge, which will be held from April 11-13. It was developed by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and is based on cross-agency data.
The aim of the Coastal Inundation in Your Community challenge is to create tools and provide information so communities can prepare for coastal catastrophes.
“Solutions developed through this challenge could have many potential impacts,” said NASA Chief Scientist Ellen Stofan. "This includes helping coastal businesses determine whether they are currently at risk from coastal inundation and whether they will be impacted in the future by sea level rise and coastal erosion."
Many federal data sets are now available that illustrate the hazards of coastal inundation. As part of the Climate Data Initiative, the government has gathered data sets related to coastal vulnerability and the impact of future climate changes on flooding. The data sets will be available on climate.data.gov.
The data comes from NOAA, NASA, the Federal Emergency Management Administration, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Army Corps of Engineers, the departments of Commerce and Defense as well as from New York and New Jersey.
The purpose of the larger International Space Apps Challenge is to contribute to space exploration missions and improve life on earth. Participants introduce these solutions by developing mobile apps, software, hardware, data visualization and platform solutions. They will have access to over 200 data sources, including data sets, data services and tools.
The challenge will be hosted at 100 locations over six different continents.
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