NROC News – March 2015

NROC News – monthly news and updates from NROC, its member agencies and partners.

NROC would like you to know –

  • NROC’s 2015-16 committee work plans are now available on the committee pages of the NROC website – Coastal Hazards Resilience, Ocean and Coastal Ecosystem Health, and Ocean Planning.
  • MyCoast is a portal developed to collect and analyze pictures and data relating to coastal events.  Information collected through this site is used to visualize the impact of coastal hazards and to enhance awareness among decision-makers and stakeholders. The MyCoast portal is newly available for coastal New England states.  The portal features access to the StormReporter and KingTides. StormReporter has been developed by Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, NOAA’s National Weather Service and the Northeast Regional Association for Coastal Ocean Observing (NERACOOS) to provide rapid delivery and archival of coastal storm damage observations.  The KingTides tool is designed to document the effect that extreme tide events have on natural resources, properties and infrastructure. NROC will be hosting a webinar in early June (stay tuned for the details!) to demonstrate the tools featured on MyCoast and share the successful experiences our state partners have had with documenting impacts of coastal storms and extreme events. 

NROC Partners would like you to know –

  • North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study released: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released the North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study (NACCS), which details the results of a two-year study to address coastal storm and flood risk to vulnerable populations, property, ecosystems, and infrastructure in the North Atlantic region of the United States affected by Hurricane Sandy. The NACCS provides tools and information, including a nine-step Coastal Storm Risk Management Framework that can be used by communities, states, tribes, and the Federal government to help identify coastal risk and develop strategies for reducing those risks. See the full press release for more details.
  • SHARP job openings: The Saltmarsh Habitat & Avian Research Program (SHARP) is hiring several seasonal technicians for the summer 2015 field season, as well as postdoc and Ph.D. positions: Click here for more details. Via Megan Tyrrell, NALCC
  • NOAA Office for Coastal Management NE Region Update:
  1. NOAA’s Office of Education has issued a funding opportunity for projects designed to strengthen the public’s and/or K-12 students’ environmental literacy to improve community resilience to extreme weather events and environmental changes. To read the full funding announcement, visit www.grants.gov (search under CFDA 11.008).  Important dates: Register for informational webinars by 3/6/15 – Interested applicants should register for one of the webinars on 3/9 or 3/10 by emailing oed.grants@noaa.gov. Include in the subject line of the email “Register for ELG15 FFO Webinar” and in the body of the email provide the interested party’s name(s), institution, telephone number, email address and preferred webinar date. Deadline 4/13/15: Applications to this funding opportunity are due April 13, 2015.
  2. Coastal Flood Exposure Mapper is now available for New England.  This tool is designed to help start community discussions about hazard impacts with maps that show people, places and natural resources exposed to coastal flooding. Find out more here on NOAA’s Digital Coast.
  3. Last call for Coastal GeoTools 2015.  The Coastal GeoTools Conference is scheduled for 3/30-4/2 in North Charleston, SC. Click here to register. if you need more convincing than the warm weather, check out a recent GeoZone blog post on the conference.
  4. Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve to host Climate Adaptation for Coastal Communities April 14-16. Click here for details. For a full list of training courses offered by NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management, visit the training section of NOAA’s Digital Coast.
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