NSF Award
2437725
Hazardous weather early warning systems disseminate timely and meaningful information about flash floods, tornadoes, and other weather hazards so that individuals, communities and organizations can prepare for and protect themselves against harm or loss. Early warning systems involve sensors, model forecasts, federal and local public safety organizations, private companies, and communications technologies that disseminate warnings to the public. Hazardous weather warning messages are general rather than tailored to the risks faced by the people who receive them. The same warning message goes out to everyone in an affected region, regardless of individual circumstances. Each person is responsible for ensuring they receive and understand the warning, figuring out if they or loved ones are at risk, and then deciding if they have the capability or interest in taking protective actions. While warning systems have been effective for segments of the population, there is great potential to improve individual-level decision-making and community/societal outcomes, especially in the face of rapidly intensifying weather events. This planning grant takes a human-centered approach to hazardous weather warning to: 1) develop a deeper understanding of how individuals assess their risk and take action as weather hazards evolve, and 2) apply this expanded knowledge to new ways of tailoring warnings to individual or group circumstances.<br/><br/>In this planning grant, a multidisciplinary group of researchers and practitioners address how multiple factors – rain intensity, quality of the stormwater infrastructure, individual daily routines of travel, advanced preparation, risk perception, warnings, social and environmental cues, and socioeconomic vulnerability – interact to influence people’s perception and response to floods. The team establish a common knowledge base and language through sharing research, methods, and datasets. A focus group is held with residents of vulnerable communities in collaboration with a local nonprofit to investigate how different individuals process information from early warning systems. The planning project includes exploratory projects that contribute to an innovative plan for convergent human-centered research. This work identifies new relationships among risk perception, mobility, weather, and built infrastructure that can point to new directions for convergent warning research. In addition, the planning grant allows early work on developing the concept of personalized warnings. Broader impacts include outreach to vulnerable populations to learn about this group’s perceptions and actions during floods.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
