Improving the Communication of Weather and Wildfire Information

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Te whakapai ake i te tuku mōhiohio mō te huarere me te ahi pūkākā

State Phase 2
Duration 2019 – 2024
Budget / Funding $738000
Project Leader(s)
GNS Science
Lisa Langer
Scion

Vision

Communication of weather and wildfire information, including warnings, is delivered in a way that gives planners, emergency managers, and communities the information they need when they need it.

Project description

During the past few decades, technology has changed the way communities are informed about the risks of high impact weather events and imminent threats to lives and property. However, there has been limited research to date on how best to do this in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Working with stakeholders and partners, including emergency management groups, Fire and Emergency New Zealand, Queenstown Lakes District Council and MetService, we aim to develop more effective communication strategies for high impact weather events.

To do this, we are investigating how social media and other technologies can be used to communicate risks and gather information about the impact of events. Other areas of focus are the increasing wildfire risks posed by growing populations in the urban fringes around our towns and cities and the best ways to include Māori in planning and preparedness for high impact weather.

Our research will include analysis of the communications and community responses in case studies of actual events: the January 2017 storm in Wellington, and Cyclone Debbie and the Edgecumbe flooding in 2017.

In addition, the team is carrying out a qualitative study of wildfire risk perception and preparedness of urban fringe residents in northern Wānaka and Albert Town in the Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes districts. This community has been selected for the study as they are exposed to high wildfire risk but have not experienced a significant wildfire event.

Our goal is to make Aotearoa New Zealand more resilient to high impact weather by identifying targeted and effective communications methods.

Wawata

Ka tukuna ngā whakawhitinga mōhiohio huarere me te ahiniwha, tae atu ki ngā whakatūpato, i runga anō i te āhua o te tuku ki ngā kaiwhakamahere, ngā kaiwhakahaere ohotata me ngā hapori i te mōhiohio e hiahiatia ana i te wā e hiahiatia ana.

Whakaahuatanga papatono

I ngā rua tekau tau kua hipa, nā te hangarau i panoni i te āhua whakamōhio i ngā hapori mō ngā tūraru o ngā takunetanga huarere pānga nui me ngā tūpono tūraru ki ngā tāngata me ngā rawa. Engari he whāiti noa ngā rangahau i tēnei wā me pēhea te mahi pai rawa i tēnei i Aotearoa.

Mā te mahi tahi ki ngā kaiwhaipānga me ngā hoa rangapū, pēnei i ngā rōpū whakahaere ohotata, a Fire and Emergency New Zealand, a Queenstown Lakes District Council me te Te Ratonga Tirorangi, e whai ana mātou ki te whakawhanake i ngā rautaki whakawhitinga whaihua ake mō ngā takunetanga huarere pānga nui.

Hei whakatutuki i tēnei, e tūhura ana mātou me pēhea te whakamahi i ngā pae pāhopori me ētahi atu hangarau ki te whakawhiti i ngā tūraru me te kohi mōhiohio mō te pānga o ngā takunetanga. Ko ētahi atu take arotahi ko te pikinga o ngā tūraru ahiniwha nā te tipu haere o ngā taupori i ngā tapa o ō tātou tāone, ā, me te huarahi pai ake ki te whakauru i te Māori ki ngā whakamaheretanga me ngā whakaritenga mō te huarere pānga nui.

Ka uru ki ā mātou rangahau ko te tātaritanga o ngā whakawhitinga me ngā urupare hapori i ngā take rangahau o ngā takunetanga: te āwhā nui i Te Whanganui-a-Tara i te Kohitātea 2017, a Cyclone Debbie me ngā waipuketanga i Edgecumbe i te tau 2017.

Tāpiri ake, e kawea ana e te rōpū tētahi rangahau inekounga o te aroā me te noho rite ki te tūraru ahiniwha o ngā kainoho tapa tāone i Wānaka ki te raki me Albert Town i ngā rohe o Te Puku o Ōtākou me Tāhuna. Kua kōwhiria tēnei hapori mō tēnei rangahau i te mea e tino noho whakaraerae ana ki te tūraru ahiniwha, engari kāore anō kia wheako i tētahi takunetanga ahiniwha nui.

Ko tō mātou whāinga kia manawaroa ake a Aotearoa ki ngā huarere pānga nui mā te tautohu i ngā tikanga whakawhitinga ūnga, whaihua hoki.

Resource Outputs from this project

Policy Briefing

Impact-based forecasts and warnings

Impact-based forecasts and warnings (IBFWs) offer a way to design and communicate warnings that are more meaningful and relevant to people.

View Policy Briefing
Article

Differences in perceived sources of uncertainty in natural hazards science advice: lessons for cross-disciplinary communication

E.E.H. Doyle, J. Thompson, S.R. Hill, M. Williams, D. Paton, S.E. Harrison, A. Bostrom, J.S. Becker 2024 Differences in perceived sources of uncertainty in natural…

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Video

What are impact-based forecasts and warnings?

Impact-based forecasts and warnings describe what the weather has the potential to DO, making warnings more meaningful for people trying to prepare.

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Video

New landslides tool helps in Cyclone Gabrielle response

We've helped GNS Science develop a new landslides modelling tool that was used in the response phase to Cyclone Gabrielle.

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Article

Connecting Forecast and Warning: A Partnership Between Communicators and Scientists.

Anderson, C.L., Rovins, J., Johnston, D.M., Lang, W., Golding, B., Mills, B., Kaltenberger, R., Chasco, J., Pagano, T.P., Middleham, R. & Nairn, J. (2022) Connecting…

View Article
Article

Connecting Warning with Decision and Action: A Partnership of Communicators and Users.

Scolobig, A., Potter, S., Kox, T., Kaltenberger, R., Weyrich, P., Chasco, J., Golding, B., Hilderbrand, D., Fleischhut, N., Uprety, D. & Rana, B. (2022) Connecting…

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Article

Identifying the Impact-Related Data Uses and Gaps for Hydrometeorological Impact Forecasts and Warnings.

There is a growing need for vulnerability and exposure data to inform impact-based forecasts and warnings, especially for social and health impacts, not just infrastructure.

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Article

‘Sharing is caring’: A socio-technical analysis of the sharing and governing of hydrometeorological impact data in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Harrison, S.E., Potter, S.H., Prasanna, R., Doyle, E.E. & Johnston, D.M. (2022) ‘Sharing is caring’: A socio-technical analysis of the sharing and governing of hydrometeorological…

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Report

Homeowner and community preparedness mitigations under increasing wildfire risk

Langer, E.R., Wegner, S., Pearce, G. Homeowner and community preparedness mitigations under increasing wildfire risk. Scion, Christchurch. Fire Technology Transfer Note No. 45. June 2021.

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Article

Wildfire volunteering and community disaster resilience in New Zealand: institutional change in a dynamic rural social-ecological setting

Demonstrating the need for the emergency management sector to promote community resilience through the support of informal volunteers.

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Article

‘Where oh where is the data?’: Identifying data sources for hydrometeorological impact forecasts and warnings in Aotearoa New Zealand

Sara E. Harrison, Sally H. Potter, Raj Prasanna, Emma E.H. Doyle, David Johnston. ‘Where oh where is the data?‘: Identifying data sources for hydrometeorological impact…

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Webinar

Impact-based severe weather warnings for Aotearoa New Zealand

Our Weather & Wildfire researchers Dr Richard Turner (NIWA) and social scientists Dr Sally Potter and Dr Sara Harrison (GNS Science) introduce impact-based weather warnings.

View Webinar
Article

The benefits and challenges of implementing impact-based severe weather warning systems: Perspectives of weather, flood, and emergency management personnel

What are the challenges and benefits of implementing impact-based forecast and warning systems? We asked participants from New Zealand and international agencies to find out.

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Article

Increasing the Value of Weather-Related Warnings

Zhang Q, Li L, Ebert B, Golding B, Johnston D, Mills B, Panchuk S, Potter S, Riemer M, Sun J, et al. 2019. Increasing the…

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Article

The many-headed beast of wildfire risks to Aotearoa New Zealand.

Huggins TJ, Langer ER, McLennan J, Johnston DM, Yang L. 2020. The many-headed beast of wildfire risks in Aotearoa-New Zealand. Australian Journal of Emergency Management.…

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Article

Residents’ preparedness, experiences and actions during an extreme wildfire in the Far North, Aotearoa New Zealand

McGee T, Langer ER. 2019. Residents' preparedness, experiences and actions during an extreme wildfire in the Far North, Aotearoa New Zealand. International Journal of Disaster…

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Article

Volunteered Geographic Information for people-centred severe weather early warning: A literature review.

Harrison S, Potter S, Prasanna R, Doyle EEH, Johnston D. 2020. Volunteered geographic information for people-centred severe weather early warning: a literature review. Australasian Journal…

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Article

Research Themes on Warnings in Information Systems Crisis Management Literature

Tan ML, Harrison S, Becker JS, Doyle EEH, Prasanna R. 2020. Research themes on warnings in information systems crisis management literature. In: Hughes A, McNeill…

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Article

Wildfire risk awareness and prevention by predominantly Māori rural residents, Karikari Peninsula, Aotearoa New Zealand.

Langer ER, McGee TK. 2017. Wildfire risk awareness and prevention by predominantly Māori rural residents, Karikari Peninsula, Aotearoa New Zealand. International Journal of Wildland Fire.…

View Article
Article

Wildfire risk awareness, perception and preparedness in the urban fringe in Aotearoa New Zealand: Public responses to the 2017 Port Hills wildfire

Langer ER, Wegner S. 2018. Wildfire risk awareness, perception and preparedness in the urban fringe in Aotearoa/New Zealand: public responses to the 2017 Port Hills…

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Article

Wildfire risk to forests and communities in a changing hazard environment.

Langer ER. 2019. Wildfire risk to forests and communities in a changing hazard environment. In: Communicating forestry in the connected age: ANZIF Conference proceedings; 2019…

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Article

Citizen science initiatives in high-impact weather and disaster risk reduction

This editorial introduces the HIWeather Citizen Science Project special issue, summarizing the issue in the broader context of high-impact weather and citizen science.

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