The North Carolina State University Coastal And EstuaryStorm Surge And Flood Prediction System

The North Carolina State University Coastal and Estuary Marine & Environmental Prediction System (CEMEPS) is a coupled system of mathematical models. CEMEPS contains a suite of interactively linked atmospheric, oceanic, estuary and river model components. The model architecture couples mesoscale atmospheric models or event models such as hurricanes or a suite of atmospheric variable measurements, wind-fields and precipitation, to ocean basin, continental margin, and estuary hydrodynamic models to a river discharge-interaction model. So, winds and precipitation are both observed and modeled and water waves and currents and water levels are predicted. Thus, storm surge and estuary flooding can be accurately determined well in advance of a storm. CEMEPS output is routinely used by the North Carolina Office of the National Weather Service to make forecasts of coastal and estuary flooding during the passage of Tropical and Extra-Tropical Cyclones. While the model system is currently focused on the coasts of the Carolinas, CEMEPS could be ported to all coasts. The goal of CEMEPS is to improve the capacity of coastal communities to reduce flood impacts.