Illustrative: an ensemble of trajectories, its quantile fan and the outcome as it is observed

Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Hazards, Disasters and Resilience

Early warning and anticipatory action

A warning is a chain: risk knowledge, monitoring and forecasting, dissemination and communication, and preparedness to respond.

Map early warning and anticipatory action on a real place

01Model

The model, step by step

The model

From a forecast to a trigger: how hit rate, false alarms and the cost-loss ratio decide whether acting early pays

DataModelGateDecisionStandard it teachesStandard it relies onNeighbouring discipline

7 steps
Relative economic value of the trigger
0.47
False alarm ratio: share of activations with no event
0.56
Expense per unit loss, acting on climatology alone
0.100
Expense per unit loss, acting on the trigger
0.062
/

The model From a forecast to a trigger: how hit rate, false alarms and the cost-loss ratio decide whether acting early pays

02Scope

What the discipline covers

The subtopics its courses and labs teach.

Early warning and anticipatory action: 2 primary courses open, 3 in preparation and 4 also taught here, across 8 subtopics and 2 connected disciplines. Courses: RAF-106 L2 open, RAT-203 L2 open, RAT-213 L2 in preparation, RAT-231 L2 in preparation, RAT-264 L3 in preparation, RAF-111 L1 also taught here, RAN-324 L2 also taught here, RAN-326 L2 also taught here, RAS-404 L2 also taught here.
Early warning and anticipatory action at a glance
  • Open, 2
  • In preparation, 3
  • Also taught here, 4
  • Subtopics, 8
Course codes from the curriculum; study levels L1 to L4.
Courses
2 courses open
Levels
L2 Intermediate
Labs
Trigger lab, Map lab, Geo quiz, Exposure lab, GeoAI lab
  • The four pillars of early warning
  • Impact-based forecasting
  • Warning messages and the Common Alerting Protocol
  • Forecast verification
  • Trigger design and thresholds
  • Anticipatory action protocols
  • Pre-arranged finance for early action
  • Last-mile dissemination

Courses in development extend the scope to one further subject: Machine learning for hazard forecasting.

03The discipline

The field and its scope

For forecasters, warning officers, humanitarian planners and finance officers who design, verify or act on a warning or trigger and need to know how much to trust it.

04Measures

Quantities and units

05Methods

Methods and their limits

Each method is listed with what it assumes and where it fails.

06Debates

What the field debates

07Bodies and data

Bodies that set practice, and the data they publish

Bodies and standards are named so learners can find and apply their published work; the Academy teaches their use and links to the publisher, and no affiliation is implied.

08Simulator

Run the discipline's simulator

Early warning and anticipatory action's own model runs in the scene at the top of this page: set its parameters there and play the steps. The separate chart simulator is left off this page so that it stays within its size budget.

09Maps

Build a twin of any place

Search any place or open the world; the layers and generators follow early warning and anticipatory action on the planet map, the globe and in 3D.

The Kahramanmaras earthquake sequence of 2023: a flat plan of the faculty twin. Terrain 59 to 3,044 m; 2 reference earthquakes, M7.5 to M7.8; 3,643,786 people in the box, 2020; Earthquakes M4.5 and above, past week: read live when the 3D twin opens; USGS ShakeMap intensity contours: read live when the 3D twin opens. Contours every 500 metres from the elevation grid; population count 2020, worldpop 1 km as four classes per cell (edges 11, 47, 405); reference earthquakes as marks.
The Kahramanmaras earthquake sequence of 2023, Turkiye. Flat plan of the same data: relief, the two epicentres with magnitude and depth, the WorldPop count grid and the numbers below. The 3D twin opens on devices with WebGL once its data and library have been checked.
  • Terrain 59 to 3,044 m
  • 2 reference earthquakes, M7.5 to M7.8
  • 3,643,786 people in the box, 2020
  • Earthquakes M4.5 and above, past week: read live when the 3D twin opens
  • USGS ShakeMap intensity contours: read live when the 3D twin opens
Credits and dates per layer are listed under the stage. Relief in the twin is exaggerated ×1.5 for legibility.

Drag to move, right drag or Shift with a drag to turn and tilt, Ctrl with the wheel to zoom. Keyboard: arrows move, Shift with arrows turn and tilt, + and - zoom, 0 resets, V steps through the views, Escape clears.

Flat plan of the same data: relief, the two epicentres with magnitude and depth, the WorldPop count grid and the numbers below. The 3D twin opens on devices with WebGL once its data and library have been checked.

The boundaries, names and designations shown do not imply any judgement on the legal status of any territory, or any endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Countries: Natural Earth (public domain).

10Nexus Standards

Nexus Standards it teaches and relies on

The Nexus Standards the discipline teaches toward, grouped by master standard, with the disciplines that teach each.

11Research hub

Research hub: papers, preprints and datasets

Open scholarly sources searched with the subject terms of Early warning and anticipatory action.

Search termsEarly warning and anticipatory action; The four pillars of early warning; Impact-based forecasting; Warning messages and the Common Alerting Protocol; Forecast verification; Trigger design and thresholdsDerived from the Risk Academy page on Early warning and anticipatory action.

  • OpenAlexlisted for reference; not queried
  • Crossreflisted for reference; not queried
  • DataCitelisted for reference; not queried
  • Zenodolisted for reference; not queried
  • arXivlisted for reference; not queried
  • Europe PMClisted for reference; not queried
  • OpenAIRE Graphlisted for reference; not queried

No source is enabled for live display on this site yet: the sources are listed for reference and none is queried. Once the publisher of record enables a source after its terms are reviewed, recent works are listed here. Metadata and links only: title, authors, venue, year, type, open-access status and licence as each source records them; works are listed for orientation, not reviewed or endorsed.

12Hub

Research and tools

Research and preprints as they are published, by discipline, with the faculty's other tools.

The hub lists the newest research and preprints for Early warning and anticipatory action, each with its source and date. Open the research hub

13Methods and standards

Methods, frameworks and hazards

From the Academy's risk taxonomy: the discipline's own entries and those of its primary courses, with how many courses teach each.

14What is changing now

What is changing now

Recent developments in early warning and anticipatory action, each with its source; sources checked on 16 October 2026.

15Courses

Courses in this discipline

Courses with this as their primary discipline.

16Also taught here

Courses from connected disciplines that also teach this field

Each course has its primary discipline elsewhere and teaches this field as part of its scope.

17Labs

How the subject is practised in labs

18Technology in this area

How technology helps and what risk it brings

19Achievements

Achievements in this discipline

20Pathways

Pathways that teach it

21Where this is practised

Where the subject is practised

22Practised in

The two Nexus Foundry systems where it is practised

  • Nexus FoundryEWS systemWarning support and forecast verificationForecast Verification room, Warning Desk room
  • AAP systemTriggers and readiness for early actionTriggers room, Readiness room

Nexus Foundry system pages describe what each system and its rooms are designed to do; the courses teach the methods these systems apply.

24Across the ecosystem

Across the ecosystem

26References

Core references and where to begin

Start with Mileti, then Murphy, then Richardson.

NRNexus Reports gateway · GW-ACADEMY

Contribute to Nexus Reports from this page.

Nexus Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.

Risk Academy
Early warning and anticipatory action

Start with an open course

The catalogue lists each course with its outcomes, labs, hours and level.

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