Enhancing Collection and Application of Hydrologic Data to Improve Operationalized Weather and Flood Prediction in American Samoa

In many isolated islands with high rainfall gradients, limited climate and streamflow stations and lack of weather radar data hampers meteorologists’ ability to provide vital, site-specific forecasts and flash flood alerts. Our work in American Samoa aims to tackle this challenge by enhancing observational networks and collaborating with Pago Pago’s National Weather Service (NWS) forecasters. We’ll achieve this by: 1) boosting real-time climate and streamflow data availability through network upgrades, 2) creating high-resolution gridded rainfall and soil moisture products, and 3) developing innovative rainfall and streamflow forecasting methods based on global data for wider application across other similar islands. Our findings will be open-access, integrated into NWS systems, and shared on GitHub and the Hawai‘i Climate Data Portal (HCDP). Collaboration with Pago and Honolulu NWS ensures our research aligns with operational needs, with the data serving as a key input for future hydrological modeling efforts like the NextGen National Water Model.