The website, known as the Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation (CMRA) portal, offers users information about real-time hazards, long-term exposure projections and federal funding opportunities to support climate resilience projects.
The available federal funding opportunities may come from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.
In addition to a real-time monitoring dashboard to visualize climate-related information, the website offers an assessment tool for an area on past, present and projected future conditions.
“This website is designed as a one-stop shop to equip those on the ground with the tools they need to plan and prepare, and to access federal resources to build greater resilience,” said Deputy National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi in the announcement.
The unprecedented heat waves of recent years — demonstrated in part by the rise of a new government position to assess heat-related problems — led the federal government to launch another climate-related resource, heat.gov, in July 2022.
Co-funded by NOAA and DOI with 2022 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds, the project was developed using Esri.
The CMRA platform includes information from across the U.S. government like climate maps as well as data not specific to the climate, like building code standards and social vulnerability information.
And while new technologies aim to help officials better respond to climate threats like wildfires, there are many climate-related hazards that officials need to understand to prepare for, including drought, heat, flooding and wildfires.
“By combining critical climate data and climate-hazard information with the resources to help fund resilience and adaptation projects, CMRA will be an invaluable tool for local communities across America,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in the announcement.
CMRA will help guide those who want to apply for grants in ensuring that their projects account for climate-related hazards specific to their communities.
