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that are issuing forecasts, and there are
major business losses related to those
forecasts if they are not accurate, what’s
the liability related to that
S&S The models have been very
predictive, where the lay of the land
in New York City amplifies a storm
surge. Why aren’t we planning and
designing around those eventualities
COLLETON Exactly, and I come back
to all of this as environmental intelligence.
What can these products tell
us about improving our infrastructure
as a nation We put so much money
into the economic stimulus, but were
we taking climate change into account
while we were building those new roads
and bridges
If you look at states like North
Carolina where there have been moves,
even proposed legislation, not to recognize
climate change, one has to ask
whether those policy makers are putting
their citizens at risk I always argue that
whether you believe in climate change
or not, you have to agree with the need
for long-term forecasting. We have to
improve the capabilities that allow us to
look at events like storms and drought
in the context of trends.
S&S It’s disconcerting how much
climate change has been politicized.
COLLETON What I try to do is to talk
about all of this as environmental
intelligence. I look at it in the light of
why we need long-term forecasting.
If we’re going to have 80- or 90-mileper-hour
winds as the new norm, we
need to build our houses differently.
The Institute for Business & Home
Safety (IBHS) is putting out new
standards for how we build based on
these trends. At the last Forum on
WHAT THE OPENEIS DOES IS PROVIDE
THE MECHANISM FOR WIDER ACCESS
TO GOVERNMENT-COLLECTED EARTH
OBSERVATIONS.
Earth Observations, Carl Hedde, who
is head of risk accumulation at Munich
Reinsurance, showed video of two
houses built similarly, and that have
been put in a huge wind tunnel. One
of the houses has brackets to hold the
roof down, the door opens outward
rather than inward, and it has fortified
windows and siding. Both houses were
built to modern standards, with just
$3,000 invested for the fortifications.
They did an experiment with Category
3 hurricane winds. The house without
the added elements was destroyed.
It looked like the Big Bad Wolf had
blown it down! [http://www.youtube.
com/watchv=cXF44jBBwxU]
Home builders want to be building
good homes, so you do see movement in
this sector to better prepare homeowners
so that they can withstand more severe
weather events. And the companies that
insure those homes are providing their
customers with reduced rates if houses
meet new, safer standards.
S&S The recent column that you
wrote points to the economic impact.
Have you had good response to that
COLLETON I have had very good
feedback, and people have been very
appreciative that I made the link with
the economic argument. Investment
in these systems, and the entire supply
chain of environmental information,
is directly relevant to our economy.
In fact, I did a short piece on The
Weather Channel as well.
Earlier this summer we were
looking at insured crop losses of $20
billion and now $25 billion. We saw
the impact of that globally with the
rise in food costs. When you look at
the ideas for what the administration
could do, there is an effort underway
for adopting what is called Open
Environmental Information Services
(OpenEIS).
This came out of a report produced
by the Environmental Information
Services Working Group that I co-chair
with Walt Dabberdt of Viasala for the
NOAA Science Advisory Board. The
OpenEIS concept provides the nonfederal
sector with more access to all
of the information that the government
has and it also recommends better and
earlier engagement with the private
sector in algorithm development and
other technology areas.
NOAA regularly releases its forecasting
and data, but there’s a lot of
other data that doesn’t get released
that may be helpful to a particular
sector. The OpenEIS concept challenges
the federal government to
look at ways that we can bring the
private sector inside the walls of these
data centers with better access to the
incredible amount of existing data.
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IMAGING NOTES // WINTER 2013 // WWW.IMAGINGNOTES.COM