The Scope of Our Science Active
In 2020, the U.S. experienced 30 named storms for first time in 170 years of record keeping. Impacts were seen far inland, and the entire Gulf and Atlantic coasts were impacted at some point. Since 2017, 14 hurricanes made landfall in the U.S., causing $353 billion in damages. USGS science helps reduce these losses by enhancing our Nation’s capabilities to forecast impacts and provide real time geospatial information to better assess vulnerabilities and risks.
Hurricanes can pose a range of dangerous and devastating natural hazards with impacts not only to coastal communities but often extending far inland. While flooding, storm surge, and coastal erosion can have immediate impacts, damage to infrastructure, altered ecosystems and the related economic consequences can have persistent and long-lasting effects on society and the environment.
USGS brings a comprehensive approach to advancing the science needed to understand hurricanes and their broad impacts. We provide timely, relevant, and useful information to inform coastal planning and decisions related to a wide range of hurricane impacts. By collaborating with partners across Federal, State and local levels, our scientists and staff develop tools and products that help manage risk and resources as well as help anticipate and prepare for the changes another storm could bring.
Hurricane hazards like storm surge, coastal erosion, and inland flooding can destroy roads, bridges, water and sewer systems, homes and businesses, and profoundly alter landscapes. Floodwaters can introduce toxins that threaten drinking water supplies and ecosystem health or even spread invasive species. Coastal erosion and movement of beach sand deposits can also profoundly change the landscape and the way coastal waters interact with the shoreline areas. Overwash and inundation can cut through islands and open or close coastal inlets, potentially altering how water circulates in coastal waters. Altogether, these impacts can be complex and affect a range of human infrastructure and natural resources.
As an objective Earth science agency, the USGS integrates scientific expertise from across broad thematic areas in hydrology, coastal change, ecosystem function, water chemistry, wildlife health, invasive species, along with climate and land-use changes. In addition, USGS brings together skills and tools in data management and geospatial analysis that allow us to combine areas of science in new ways and with more partners. This broad area of expertise also allows USGS to consider hurricanes and extreme storms in a larger context such as determining if a storm threatens endangered species habitat, facilitates the spread of an invasive species, or forecasting how sea-level rise could affect the frequency of storm surge inundation in a specific coastal area. The USGS supports other Federal agencies within the Department of the Interior, including the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management by assessing hazards and vulnerabilities posed by hurricanes as well as informing restoration, recovery and other management activities. USGS also works with a range of stakeholders and research communities such as the National Coastal Research program and the National Oceanographic Partnership Program providing leadership and building partnerships that guide research directions and advance our Nation’s coastal research programs.
When a hurricane threatens the U.S., our scientists closely monitor the storm consulting with the NOAA National Hurricane Center, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies at Federal, State and local levels. We deploy field crews and equipment to provide critical data before, during and after a hurricane, sharing information and forecasting a range of storm impacts and their severity. The USGS Coastal Storm Team, Coastal Change Hazards experts and the Geospatial Information Response Team work to continually innovate ways to record and share data from coastal storms with our cooperators, storm forecasters, emergency managers and the public.
When natural disasters like hurricanes strike our nation, Congress can appropriate supplemental funding for Federal disaster relief activities. Supplemental funding provided in response to devastating hurricanes and extreme storms enables the USGS to repair and replace equipment and facilities, collect high-resolution elevation data, and conduct specific scientific studies and assessments that support recovery and rebuilding decisions. It also supports focused research activities that advance our capabilities and the state of the science.
These investments pay off. With each storm, we continue to advance by improving forecasting tools, monitoring and real-time data collection methods, increasing risk awareness, and working collaboratively with many partners and stakeholders so they have the information they need to build more resilient communities.
By providing objective and easily accessible information, the USGS empowers our nation to prepare for hurricanes across short- and long-term scales; to advance local capabilities and community resilience as well as support emergency preparations and response so that we are ready for the next one. This helps fulfill our mission to improve the lives, property, and economic prosperity of our Nation’s communities, habitats, and natural resources.
- Overview
In 2020, the U.S. experienced 30 named storms for first time in 170 years of record keeping. Impacts were seen far inland, and the entire Gulf and Atlantic coasts were impacted at some point. Since 2017, 14 hurricanes made landfall in the U.S., causing $353 billion in damages. USGS science helps reduce these losses by enhancing our Nation’s capabilities to forecast impacts and provide real time geospatial information to better assess vulnerabilities and risks.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media DetailsExtensive inland flooding in Texas associated with Hurricane Harvey in 2017. (Credit: Steve Fitzgerald, Harris County Flood Control District. Public domain.) Hurricanes can pose a range of dangerous and devastating natural hazards with impacts not only to coastal communities but often extending far inland. While flooding, storm surge, and coastal erosion can have immediate impacts, damage to infrastructure, altered ecosystems and the related economic consequences can have persistent and long-lasting effects on society and the environment.
USGS brings a comprehensive approach to advancing the science needed to understand hurricanes and their broad impacts. We provide timely, relevant, and useful information to inform coastal planning and decisions related to a wide range of hurricane impacts. By collaborating with partners across Federal, State and local levels, our scientists and staff develop tools and products that help manage risk and resources as well as help anticipate and prepare for the changes another storm could bring.
Hurricane hazards like storm surge, coastal erosion, and inland flooding can destroy roads, bridges, water and sewer systems, homes and businesses, and profoundly alter landscapes. Floodwaters can introduce toxins that threaten drinking water supplies and ecosystem health or even spread invasive species. Coastal erosion and movement of beach sand deposits can also profoundly change the landscape and the way coastal waters interact with the shoreline areas. Overwash and inundation can cut through islands and open or close coastal inlets, potentially altering how water circulates in coastal waters. Altogether, these impacts can be complex and affect a range of human infrastructure and natural resources.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media DetailsDamages from Hurricane Michael in 2018 along the Gulf of Mexico coast in northwest Florida. (Credit: Anna Stull, USGS. Public domain.) As an objective Earth science agency, the USGS integrates scientific expertise from across broad thematic areas in hydrology, coastal change, ecosystem function, water chemistry, wildlife health, invasive species, along with climate and land-use changes. In addition, USGS brings together skills and tools in data management and geospatial analysis that allow us to combine areas of science in new ways and with more partners. This broad area of expertise also allows USGS to consider hurricanes and extreme storms in a larger context such as determining if a storm threatens endangered species habitat, facilitates the spread of an invasive species, or forecasting how sea-level rise could affect the frequency of storm surge inundation in a specific coastal area. The USGS supports other Federal agencies within the Department of the Interior, including the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management by assessing hazards and vulnerabilities posed by hurricanes as well as informing restoration, recovery and other management activities. USGS also works with a range of stakeholders and research communities such as the National Coastal Research program and the National Oceanographic Partnership Program providing leadership and building partnerships that guide research directions and advance our Nation’s coastal research programs.
Sources/Usage: Some content may have restrictions. View Media DetailsA ghost forest in tidal freshwater forested wetlands of the Sampit River, South Carolina. Photo taken June 17, 2015, by Dr. William Conner. When a hurricane threatens the U.S., our scientists closely monitor the storm consulting with the NOAA National Hurricane Center, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies at Federal, State and local levels. We deploy field crews and equipment to provide critical data before, during and after a hurricane, sharing information and forecasting a range of storm impacts and their severity. The USGS Coastal Storm Team, Coastal Change Hazards experts and the Geospatial Information Response Team work to continually innovate ways to record and share data from coastal storms with our cooperators, storm forecasters, emergency managers and the public.
When natural disasters like hurricanes strike our nation, Congress can appropriate supplemental funding for Federal disaster relief activities. Supplemental funding provided in response to devastating hurricanes and extreme storms enables the USGS to repair and replace equipment and facilities, collect high-resolution elevation data, and conduct specific scientific studies and assessments that support recovery and rebuilding decisions. It also supports focused research activities that advance our capabilities and the state of the science.
These investments pay off. With each storm, we continue to advance by improving forecasting tools, monitoring and real-time data collection methods, increasing risk awareness, and working collaboratively with many partners and stakeholders so they have the information they need to build more resilient communities.
By providing objective and easily accessible information, the USGS empowers our nation to prepare for hurricanes across short- and long-term scales; to advance local capabilities and community resilience as well as support emergency preparations and response so that we are ready for the next one. This helps fulfill our mission to improve the lives, property, and economic prosperity of our Nation’s communities, habitats, and natural resources.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media DetailsOblique aerial photograph near Rodanthe, North Carolina, looking south along the coast on August 30, 2011, three days after landfall of Hurricane Irene. (Credit: Karen Morgan, USGS. Public domain.)