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Communicating Hazard Information in the Modern Environment (CHIME)

Satellite image of Hurricane Irma threatening Florida Sept 2017

Overview
With advances in scientific predictions, risk communication, and communication technology, hazard preparedness and warning response are changing rapidly. This project -- funded through the National Science Foundation Hazards SEES (Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability) program -- aims to reduce harm from hurricanes and other hazards, alleviate social vulnerability, and enhance resilience by improving hazardous weather risk communication and response in the modern information environment. This includes building understanding of how evolving weather forecasts and warnings interact with societal information flow and decisions as a hurricane approaches and arrives.                 Satellite and aftermath damage images Hurricanes Maria, Irma, Jose and Katia, Sept 2017

The project brings together concepts, methods, and expertise from computer and information sciences, atmospheric and related sciences, and social and behavioral sciences to integrate study of the real-world hazard information system with computational physical and social modeling. The research includes analysis of data from social media streams; focus groups with more vulnerable populations; development and testing of prototype integrations of information; high-resolution ensemble hurricane and storm-surge modeling; and agent-based modeling of social actors who pursue, process, and transmit information. To enhance applicability of the research, our project also involves interactions with representatives from key stakeholder groups.

News and Events
  • Policy Forum by Leysia Palen and Kenneth Anderson in Science (July 15, 2016): Crisis informatics—New data for extraordinary times.
  • Presentation by Jennings Anderson (May 2016): Far Far Away in Far Rockaway: Responses to Risks and Impacts during Hurricane Sandy through First-Person Social Media Narratives. 13th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
  • Presentation by Kate Fossell (April 2016): Storm Surge Predictability. American Meteorological Society, 32nd on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, San Juan, PR.
  • Presentation by Rebecca Morss (April 2016): Improving Communication of Hurricane and Storm Surge Risks in the Modern Information Environment. American Meteorological Society, 32nd on Hurricanes and Tropical Meteorology, San Juan, PR.
  • Presentation by Rebecca Morss (January 2016): Communicating Hurricane and Storm Surge Risks in the Modern Information Environment. Annual American Meteorological Society Meeting, New Orleans, LA.
  • Presentation by Julie Demuth (December 2015): Understanding Dynamic Communication, Risk Perception, and Decisions During Hurricane Sandy Through Analysis of Twitter Data. Society for Risk Analysis Annual Meeting, Arlington, VA. 
  • Presentation by Marina Kogan (August 2015): Why Data Science Needs to Attend to Contextual Behavior: The Case of Crisis Informatics. NSF Data Science Workshop, Seattle, WA. 
  • Poster presentation by Jennings Anderson (August 2015): Data by Humans, for Humanitarian Needs. NSF Data Science Workshop, Seattle, WA.
  • ASU news (August 2015): Improved hurricane models could save lives, money.
  • Video by Chris Bopp (June 2015): Image Sharing in Disasters

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number 1331490. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

This project is a collaborative effort among the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Arizona State University, and the University of Colorado Boulder, with sponsorship from the National Science Foundation.

Collaborated efforts sponsored by:

Photo Credits: NASA-NOAA, Joshua Stevens using data from NASA-NOAA GOES, Carlos Giusti/AP Photo, NOAA, and Gerben Van Es.