North Carolina

Why North Carolina

North Carolina spans three distinct physiographic regions — the Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and Appalachian Mountains — each with unique climate-health dynamics. From increasing hurricane intensity and coastal flooding to urban heat island effects in the Piedmont and changing ecosystems in the mountains, the state presents a microcosm of climate-health challenges facing the broader Southeast United States.

As Duke’s home state, North Carolina offers an immediate context for developing and testing climate-health research methods, data pipelines, and community engagement approaches that can then be adapted for international observatory sites.

Data & Analytic Focus

The North Carolina observatory serves as the primary development and testing environment for CGHI’s climate data infrastructure — including data inventory, harmonization, and analytic tool development. Dense weather station networks, high-quality health surveillance data, and established research partnerships make it an ideal site for building reproducible workflows that scale to international contexts.