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Coastal storms, and the strong winds, heavy rains, and high seas that accompany them, pose a threat to the lives and livelihoods of the peoples of the Pacific. 

To reduce their vulnerability to the economic, social, and environmental risks associated with these phenomena (and correspondingly enhance their resiliency), decision-makers in coastal communities need timely access to accurate information that affords them an opportunity to plan and respond accordingly.  This includes information about the potential for coastal inundation and erosion at time scales ranging from hours to years, as well as the long-term climatological context of this information. 

The Pacific Region Integrated Climatology Information Products (PRICIP) project will improve our understanding of patterns and trends of storm frequency and intensity - “storminess”- within the Pacific region and develop a suite of integrated information products that can be used by emergency managers, mitigation planners, government agencies and decision-makers in key sectors including water and natural resource management, agriculture and fisheries, transportation and communication, and recreation and tourism. 

PRICIP is exploring how the climate-related processes that govern extreme storm events are expressed within and between three thematic areas: heavy rains, strong winds, and high seas.  It involves analyses of historical records collected throughout the Pacific region, and the integration of these climatological analyses with near-real time observations to put the current weather into a longer-term perspective. 

This effort is a regional path finding activity towards the development of a national comprehensive coastal climatology program.  

Heavy Rains, Strong Winds, High Seas Theme Teams

Theme-specific data integration and product development teams have been formed to carry out this work.  These teams are comprised of recognized agency and university-based experts in the area of climate-related processes that govern storminess.  They include representatives from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), Center for Operational Products and Services (CO-OPS), Coastal Services Center (CSC), National Weather Service (NWS), and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), as well as the University of Hawai`i, University of Alaska, University of Guam, Oregon State University, and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. 

Team members met at an Expert Teams Project Planning Workshop held in San Francisco on June 20-21, 2006.  This workshop provided an opportunity to share knowledge, craft detailed work plans, and establish roles and responsibilities for exploring the causes and consequences of storminess in the Pacific.  Team leads have met formally on two occasions since the initial workshop – December 2006 and October 2007- and have been meeting regularly via conference calls since that time to discuss the formulation of targeted information products and development of a derived data product suite. 

The northern and central north Pacific, which includes Alaska and Hawai`i, have been targeted as initial priority areas.  Work will be carried out in other areas as resources permit to address storminess throughout the Pacific Region including the US West Coast as well as American Flag and US Affiliated Pacific Island jurisdictions. 

For more information about PRICIP contact john.marra@noaa.gov