3rd HyMeX workshop 1-4 June 2009 Heraklion (Gournes), Crete-Greece
Predictability and uncertainty in extreme hydrometeorological events in the Mediterranean: research experiences at CIMA FoundationAntonio Parodi (CIMA Research Foundation); Giorgio Boni (Scientific Director, CIMA Research Foundation)
The aim of CIMA Foundation is to advance science and engineering in environmentally related fields, focusing on public health and safety, civil protection and the preservation of terrestrial and water-related ecosystems. Special focus is put on the mediterranean area.
CIMA Foundation research team developed, in collaboration with the Italian Civil protection and other end users, such as Italian Space Agency, local authorities etc., research aiming to the understanding and quantification of the sources of uncertainty in the prediction of extreme hydrometeorological events in the Mediterranean environment.
The collaboration with end users allowed the access and analysis to a huge amount of information produced by operational QPF models, dense ground observation networks, meteo-radar networks and satellites. Different research groups focus on various aspects of the flood forecasting chain in the Mediterranean, starting from QPF down to discharge forecast.
In this paper the most recent research results of CIMA research team will be presented in the following fields: predictability of extremes in the Mediterranean, validation of QPF with ground observations, rainfall downscaling for flash flood predictions, large scale modelling of energy fluxes with satellite data assimilation.
Some operational applications of the research activities, currently used by the Italian civil protection will be also briefly described.
