CERES, the state's on-line system that provides information about California's natural resources, expanded its uses this winter by supplying up-to-the-minute flood emergency information on the Internet.
CERES users were able to access a wide variety of information about the cur rent status of local flooding, shelter locations, road closures, and how to protect against and prepare for floods.
"Using CERES to dispense flood information really helped people who wanted a comprehensive look at the flood and its effects. They didn't have to shop around at a time when the need for facts is intense and immediate," Secretary for Resources Douglas P. Wheeler said. "The system wasn't de signed as an emergency information supplier, but putting it to use for this purpose gives CERES an important new dimension."
The severe floods that struck California in January and March not only broadened the services of CERES (pronounced "series") but increased usage from the previous weekly high of 3,300 to 8,000 queries in a single day.
Flood information was provided in
coordination with the Governor's Office of Emergency Services, Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Weather Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and the Flood Management Division of the Department of Water Resources.
Accessing CERES requires only
a personal computer, a modem and phone line, and a connection to the Internet /World Wide Web and "browser" soft ware, such as Mosaic and Netscape (available free over the Internet).
The California Biodiversity Council is supporting the creation of a network of information about all landscape and watershed groups in the state, which it intends to make available on CERES.
To learn more about creating a watershed group home page with graphics, con tact Janine Stenback of the council staff, special projects coordinator at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Strategic Planning Program, 916 -227-2658.
The Sonoma Ecology Center recently became the first watershed group to pro vide information about itself on CERES through the council's "home page," which users first see when accessing a "server" computer. CERES, formally the California Environmental Resources Evaluation System, was created by the California Resources Agency and in troduced in 1994. The service, free to users, integrates and coordinates natural resources information from domestic and international sources, making it more widely and conveniently available. Users include local governments, the private sector, community groups, students, educators, researchers, natural resources managers, land and ecosystem planners, and others who need resources information and data.
CERES is available at many public libraries served by the State Library, and will be accessible from more than 180 public libraries statewide.