Innovations in Earth System Science and Engineering for the Future of Weather‑Sensitive Insurance

Session ID#: 279899

Session Description:
The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, including floods, wildfires, hurricanes, heatwaves, and compound weather hazards, are increasing. This challenges traditional risk assessment and insurance models.  As weather variability accelerates, insurers, reinsurers, and public risk‑management entities face mounting uncertainty, escalating losses, and emerging questions about long‑term insurability. This evolving landscape underscores a growing need for deeper integration between Earth system science and engineering innovations to better quantify, forecast, and manage weather‑driven risks.

This session invites contributions that bridge atmospheric sciences, hydrology, geophysics, environmental engineering, infrastructure modeling, and socio‑environmental systems with applications in catastrophe modeling, insurance analytics, risk financing, and resilience planning. We especially encourage submissions that advance new tools, datasets, modeling frameworks, or decision‑support systems that enable the insurance sector to anticipate, price, and adapt to extreme events.

Co-Sponsor(s):
  • A - Atmospheric Sciences
  • H - Hydrology
  • NH - Natural Hazards
  • SY - Science and Society
Index Terms:

1622 Earth system modeling [GLOBAL CHANGE]
1630 Impacts of global change [GLOBAL CHANGE]
4313 Extreme events [NATURAL HAZARDS]
4328 Risk [NATURAL HAZARDS]
Primary Convener:  Dr. Lu Liu, PhD, Iowa State University, Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Ames, IA, United States
Conveners:  Antonio Arenas, Iowa State University, Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Ames, IA, United States, William A. Gallus Jr, Iowa State University, Dept. of Geological & Atmospheric Sciences, Ames, IA, United States, Hong-Yi Li, Lehigh University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Bethlehem, United States and Goutam Konapala, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, United States
Student/Early Career Convener:  Emmanuel Padmore Mantey, Iowa State University, Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, Ames, IA, United States