TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology, or CIROH, today announced 47 new research projects for fiscal year 2025 totaling $25.5 million from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The FY25 portfolio spans the full research-to-operations spectrum. Projects strengthen the Next Generation Water Resources Modeling Framework, advance experimental forecasting platforms, expand ensemble and flood inundation modeling, improve simulation of cold regions hydrology, strengthen reservoir operations applications and enhance water risk communication for decision makers, businesses and communities nationwide.
“These awards represent a significant step forward in connecting scientific innovation to operational impact,” said Dr. Steven Burian, CIROH executive director. “By uniting the nation’s top hydrologic researchers with NOAA’s operational mission, CIROH is shaping the future of water prediction in the United States.”
Advancing Water Prediction, Experimental Forecasting and Model Integration
This year’s projects expand CIROH’s collaborative efforts to unify and modernize water prediction capabilities across NOAA and its partners. Projects will:
- Develop new model inputs and forcings.
- Improve hydrologic process representations for rain-on-snow and reservoir operations.
- Expand AI integration into water prediction workflows.
- Advance multi-model and ensemble flood inundation mapping across the nation.
- Strengthen experimental forecasting systems used in riverine, flash flood and coastal applications.
Two new focal areas will guide CIROH’s FY25 efforts: enhancing drought prediction by bridging NIDIS and the National Water Center and developing a strategy for water quality forecasting research-to-operations pathways.
Research Bundles and Focus Areas
The FY25 awards are organized into five major research areas that reflect CIROH’s collaborative approach to advancing water science and prediction with users:
- Enabling Community Water Modeling: Advancing cyberinfrastructure innovations, system integration and research translation to applications.
- Next Generation Framework Enhancements: Improving forcings, low-flow prediction, reservoir representation and AI-driven modeling.
- Flood Inundation and Water Quality: Developing multi-model flood mapping and establishing pathways for operational water quality forecasting.
- Coastal Forecasting and Communication: Coupling 3D ocean and hydrologic models, enhancing coastal reanalysis datasets and improving total water level visualization and outreach.
- Water Observing Technologies: Advancing new radar, imaging and machine learning methods for real-time streamflow and ice monitoring.
Together, these research areas strengthen CIROH’s role as a bridge between academic innovation and operational water prediction across NOAA and its federal partners.
“CIROH continues to provide cutting edge innovations to the water resources community that help underpin NOAA’s water forecasting mission to not only save lives but enhance the nation’s economy,” said Allison Allen, NOAA/NWS Office of Water Prediction director and CIROH technical program manager. “From predictive models that produce water intelligence in the form of flood inundation mapping to the social and behavioral sciences that ensure data services are actionable, CIROH accelerates the evolution of water science critical for the 21st century.”
Strengthening Coastal and Flood Forecasting with the National Ocean Service
Several new projects will continue improving NOAA’s coastal total water level forecasting, with teams coupling 3D regional ocean models to hydrologic systems and introducing new approaches for modeling salinity, temperature and sediment in rivers and streams. Additional work will improve the communication and visualization of flood risk products to help communities prepare for and manage coastal flooding.
Advancing Observing Technologies with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
USGS will again support CIROH-led projects driving innovation in water observing technology. FY25 awards will introduce machine learning–based anomaly detection and gap-filling to improve streamflow data reliability and develop computer vision and radar-based techniques to monitor river ice and map bathymetry at high resolution, enhancing both observation and modeling capabilities nationwide.
Enabling Community Water Modeling with the National Water Center
To accelerate translation of research into NOAA operations, several CIROH projects will expand community water modeling tools and cyberinfrastructure, enabling hydrologic researchers to work within a cohesive ecosystem of open, interoperable models. Efforts will also include knowledge transfer initiatives, such as the Water Prediction Innovators Summer Institute and HydroLearn module development to train students and practitioners in next-generation modeling and forecast applications.
About CIROH
The Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology (CIROH) is a NOAA Cooperative Institute hosted at The University of Alabama and supported by the National Weather Service. As a unique national consortium with 28 partner institutions, CIROH unites academic, government and private sector partners to co-produce research that enhances operational water prediction capabilities and informs critical decision-making for issues like floods, droughts and water quality. Through its interdisciplinary research, educational initiatives and outreach programs, CIROH advances NOAA’s water prediction services with new techniques such as artificial intelligence and remote sensing, equips the next generation of water-resource professionals with essential skills and fosters public and stakeholder engagement to support federal agency and private sector needs. CIROH transforms scientific innovations into practical solutions and operational tools that boosts the delivery of actionable water intelligence, increases effectiveness of water resources management, promotes community resilience and informs decision-makers across the United States.