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| Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference | |
|---|---|
| Name | Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference |
| Formation | 1945 |
| Type | Scientific conference |
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C. |
| Region served | United States |
Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference The Interdepartmental Hurricane Conference is an annual forum established to coordinate tropical cyclone research, forecasting, and response among federal agencies. It convenes participants from meteorological, emergency management, military, academic, and maritime institutions to integrate advances in forecasting, evacuation planning, infrastructure resilience, and environmental assessment. The conference fosters partnerships among agencies, universities, research laboratories, and non‑profit organizations engaged in tropical cyclone science and policy.
The conference traces origins to post‑World War II efforts linking the United States Weather Bureau, Office of Naval Research, Army Air Forces, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, Department of Commerce, and regional Coastal Zone Management programs. Early meetings included delegates from the Naval Research Laboratory, Bureau of Aeronautics, Air Transport Command, United States Coast Guard, and state meteorological services such as the Florida State University meteorology program. During the Cold War era the forum engaged with organizations like the National Hurricane Research Project, Advanced Research Projects Agency, Office of Civil Defense, Federal Civil Defense Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration precursor agencies. Later decades saw participation from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Severe Storms Laboratory, United States Geological Survey, Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of the Interior. The evolution paralleled major events including planning responses after Hurricane Camille, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Andrew, and policy shifts following the Stafford Act and the creation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The conference aims to align operational forecasting with research priorities by bringing together representatives from the National Weather Service, National Hurricane Center, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, Air Force Weather Agency, United States Southern Command, and coastal state emergency offices such as the Florida Division of Emergency Management and the Texas Division of Emergency Management. Objectives include improving track and intensity forecasts through collaborative projects with the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and university laboratories like Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Colorado State University. It seeks to integrate remote sensing capabilities from NOAA Satellites, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite system, and airborne reconnaissance by the 40th Rescue Squadron and Hurricane Hunters units. Policy and planning objectives engage stakeholders including the American Red Cross, United Way, Institute of Medicine, American Society of Civil Engineers, and municipal authorities from cities like New Orleans, Miami, Houston, and Tampa.
Membership spans federal agencies, state governments, academic institutions, and private sector partners such as IBM, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, and consultancy firms supporting coastal infrastructure. Federal participation typically includes the NOAA, NWS Headquarters, Department of Defense, US Navy, US Air Force, National Science Foundation, Department of Transportation, United States Army Corps of Engineers, and US Geological Survey. Academic members represent universities including University of Miami, Louisiana State University, University of Texas at Austin, Pennsylvania State University, and University of Washington. Non‑governmental organizations include the Nature Conservancy, World Meteorological Organization delegates, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies observers, and professional societies like the American Meteorological Society and American Geophysical Union. International delegations have included representatives from the Caribbean Community, Bahamas Ministry of Transport and Aviation, Mexico's Servicio Meteorológico Nacional, and the United Kingdom Met Office.
Typical programs feature plenary sessions, technical workshops, operational briefings, and tabletop exercises involving participants such as the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Department of Homeland Security, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, and port authorities from Port of New Orleans and Port of Houston Authority. Activities include demonstrations of modeling systems like the HWRF model, GFS model, ECMWF, and ensemble forecasting tools developed by the European Centre for Medium‑Range Weather Forecasts and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. Training programs have been co‑sponsored with the National Tropical Weather Conference, Central Pacific Hurricane Center, and regional programs such as the Pacific Disaster Center. Exercises often simulate evacuations using guidance from the American Planning Association and traffic management frameworks developed with the Federal Highway Administration.
The conference facilitates collaborative research linking oceanography centers such as the Naval Oceanographic Office and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute with atmospheric research at institutions like the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere, Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and Lamont–Doherty Earth Observatory. Research themes include coupled atmosphere–ocean modeling, coastal inundation science with contributions from National Center for Coastal Ocean Science, storm surge modeling by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Hydrologic Engineering Center, and social science studies involving the Brookings Institution, RAND Corporation, and Pew Charitable Trusts. Collaborative initiatives have produced datasets shared on platforms maintained by the Federal Geographic Data Committee and interoperability standards informed by the Open Geospatial Consortium.
Outcomes attributed to the conference include improved interagency procedures embodied in protocols used by the National Hurricane Center, enhancements to reconnaissance strategies adopted by the Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters, advances in storm surge forecasting integrated into the SLOSH model, and policy recommendations influencing the National Preparedness Goal and coastal resilience guidelines used by the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The conference has contributed to publications in journals such as the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society and facilitated working groups that informed updates to operational suites like the Environmental Modeling Center forecasts and the Integrated Ocean Observing System.
Notable meetings addressed post‑disaster lessons after Hurricane Hugo and Hurricane Sandy, special sessions following the Indian Ocean tsunami (for interdisciplinary coastal hazard lessons), and symposiums that coincided with major scientific gatherings such as the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting and the American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting. Proceedings have spawned technical reports co‑authored by researchers from Princeton University, Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and national laboratories like Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories. Subsequent recommendations have been incorporated into congressional hearings involving the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and briefings for the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Category:Conferences in the United States