A JOINT PROJECT OF MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY

AND the Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center

PROJECT FUNDED BY NOAA/OAR THROUGH THE NORTHERN GULF INSTITUTE

Presented by David WelchLMRFC Development and Operations

HydrologistWednesday, April 19, 2023

Visualizing Analytics for Assessment and

Interpretation of Simulated River Flooding

Team MembersProject proposalGeneral philosophy Project plan and requirementsInitial Study AreaTimelineLMRFC status/plansIssues and opportunities

Today’s Discussion

MSU StaffMSU StaffLMRFC StaffLMRFC Staff

Dr. Phil Amburn - Research Associate Professor GRI (Project PI)

Dr. Robert Morehead - Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Dr. Jamie Dyer - Asst Professor Geosciences Department (previously at SERFC)

Derek Irby John van der Zwaag

Dave Reed (PI)David Welch – DOHDavid Ramirez – HEC-

RAS leader Jeff Graschel – SCH

Project Team

Assistance fromAssistance from

NWS OHDDeltares/Delft-hydraulicsUSACE HEC

Project Proposal

Specific goal - the development of visual analytics tools to enable scientists and forecasters to better interpret and distribute hydrologic information.

In plain language – develop tools to assist forecasters in evaluating the hydrology and hydraulics in forecast preparation and make inundation maps in real-time to support flood forecast operations.

Funding provided to NGI and LMRFC.

RFC Mapping Opportunity

NWS RFCs are migrating from FLDWAV-DWOPER to HEC-RAS with implementation of the Community Hydrologic Prediction System (CHPS).

HEC-RAS models allow development of georeferenced models with high resolution datasets.

Will have the data available to generate real-time inundation maps.

Will help meet a long term request from NWS customers .

Application Design Requirements

Coding to be easily transportable to other NWS field offices.

Use open source tools and libraries compatible with NWS AWIPS system.

Coding in Linux and Java to be platform independent.

Developed as a standalone application compatible with HEC-RAS on AWIPS and eventually linked to CHPS.

Be compatible with current NWS efforts in inundation mapping, HEC-RAS and CHPS.

Application Design Features

Plan view inundation maps with map tool set (zoom, pan, identify, mouse over depths).

River profile view or cross section (animated).Selectable overlays (imagery, terrain, cultural features).Ability to visualize animated time series, max water

surface elevation, other hydraulic variables.Run as an interactive forecast tool in real-time or in

batch mode for graphic generation.Output georeferenced data formats (shapefile, ascii

grid, jpeg, gif, tiff, KML/KMZ). Test 3-D animations.

Pascagoula River Study Area

Developed from LIDAR and USGS seamless 10m data.

Bathymetry from University of Central Florida ADCIRC grid derived with USGS cross sections, USACE MOB hydrographic surveys.

Stage/flow upstream boundaries.

NOS tide and SLOSH/ADCIRC hydrograph as downstream boundary.

Models the interface between land and sea.

Study Area

Project Timeline

Fall, 09 Hardware/Software procurement – HEC-RAS development – LMRFC work ongoing

Winter, 09 – MSU to Develop prototype GUI and HEC-DSS readers

Summer, 10 – Provide alpha version of software to LMRFC for testing

Winter, 11 – Beta version of software to LMRFC and others for testing

Host mapping results on MSU websiteSummer, 11 - Update software based on user

feedbackQuarterly Meetings - Continual feedback and

coordination between MSU and LMRFC

Flood Mapping Plans

Pascagoula HEC-RAS model development about 70 % complete.

Calibration and validation of inundation mapping results with historical floods (Spring 2009 and Katrina)

Coordination with MSU, HEC, OHD and Deltares/Delft on software development.

MSU Post Doctoral study on the visualization and mapping of uncertainty analysis.

Issues/Opportunities

Developing this as an analysis tool not just a tool to create inundation maps .

Opportunity to practice migration of research to operations.

Dissemination of data to end users.Inundation mapping needs versus reality.Education of end user to the limitations of the

product.Linkage with HEC – Linux tools that are in the

Windows version of HEC-RAS?

Questions?