CISA Integrating Climate Science & Decision Making in the Carolinas

CISA: Carolinas Integrated Sciences and Assessments, A NOAA RISA Team

Support for Climate Information Networks

At the 2014 Carolinas Climate Resilience Conference
At the 2014 Carolinas Climate Resilience Conference

In addition to stakeholder engagement conducted as part of individual research and projects, CISA team members conduct a variety of outreach and engagement activities in order to foster climate information networks in the Carolinas.

Communications, Outreach and Stakeholder Engagement

CISA seeks to be a trusted source of tailored climate information and products for decision makers and stakeholders in the region. Communications and outreach materials such as the Carolinas Climate Connection quarterly newsletter and Carolinas Climate Listserv are intended to broadly share Carolinas-relevant climate news and information.

In order to support the local climate information networks that are essential to increased adaptive capacity, CISA hosts the Carolinas Climate Resilience Conference, a biennial event which brings together a variety of practitioners and researchers to learn and share information about climate-related tools, resources, experiences, and activities in the Carolinas.

Carolinas Heat Health Coalition

The Carolinas Heat Health Coalition formed in Fall 2020 and brings together diverse organizations and individuals from different sectors to provide educational information and improve services related to heat-health awareness, heat warning systems, and heat-illness prevention with priority populations across the Carolinas by addressing the following goals:

  1. Raise heat-health awareness across sectors to reduce heat-illness in the Carolinas, especially with priority populations
  2. Maintain/update effective heat warning systems accessible to all sectors and priority populations
  3. Maintain/update heat-health guidelines for Heat Index (HI) and/or Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) levels/flags across sectors and states 
  4. Explore research opportunities and data sources to further develop heat-health tools and heat-health science for the Carolinas
  5. Facilitate/incorporate the development of Heat Action Plans

CISA Collaborator

Chip Konrad

Focus Area

Climate & Health

Climate Connection Workshop Series

CISA collaborated with the SC State Climatology Office and the SC Water Resources Center to host a series of three one-day educational workshops in Greenville, Columbia, and Charleston. The workshop series, entitled "Weathering the Storm: Impacts of Extremes to South Carolina's Built & Natural Environments", focused on how extreme events such as the October 2015 heavy rainfall and flooding event, Hurricanes Matthew and Irma, and the drought and wildfires of 2016 led state agencies to consider how to better prepare for similar future events. Each workshop included presentations from state agencies to share information about how they have responded to these extremes and how they used lessons learned to plan for the future.

The 2017-2018 workshops were a follow-up to the original Climate Connections Workshop Series, hosted by CISA and the SC State Climatology Office in 2012 which centered on climate-related impacts on the state’s natural resources. A Climate Connections Workshop Series website, hosted by the SC Department of Natural Resources, includes links to all workshop presentations, research publications, and other relevant trainings and events.

CISA Collaborators

Amanda Farris
Hope Mizzell
Dawn White
Jeff Allen

Project Partner

  • South Carolina State Climate Office
  • South Carolina Water Resources Center

Focus Area

Water Resources