Flash floods are characterized by relatively small spatial and temporal scales of occurrence which emphasize the relevant hazard and the vulnerability of communities exposed to these events. Because the elements at risks are highly dispersed, the management of the flash flood risk by means of structural measures is difficult and often unsustainable in environmental or economic terms. Hence, flash flood forecasting, warning and emergency management are, by their nature, more suitable to cope with such risks. During flash floods, the time available for communication is very limited and typically there is no time for learning as the flood develops. The preparedness strategies should account for the multiple hazards (debris flows, landslides) that are often associated to flash floods, capitalise on improvements in flash flood forecasting and warning and adapt to the large uncertainties affecting these forecasts.

In this session we solicit contributions focused on the cycle of flash flood monitoring, forecasting, warning and emergency management through the lenses of both physical and social sciences. We welcome studies on implementing emerging techniques for flood prediction and estimation in poorly gauged areas. Of particular interest are case-studies and other contributions on the multiple hazards triggered during flash floods. Special attention is placed on the analysis of the space-time distribution of impacts, emergency management practices, behavioral response patterns and preparedness procedures. Questions of interest include:

Use of remote sensing, real-time modeling and in-situ measurements to estimate soil moisture at the onset on an event;
Use of weather radar, lightning, satellite and storm tracking monitoring for rainfall estimation and nowcasting during flash floods;
Use of near real-time monitoring techniques (like GPS, mobile phone geo-positioning or online peer-to-peer communications technology) and quick response survey for inferring space-time patterns of human exposure, vulnerability and adaptive capacity;
Identification of the atmospheric and hydrologic controls on flash flooding, analysis of dominant process types transition with flood severity, threshold values and their relation to changing catchment characteristics;
Geomorphological processes and sediment dynamics during flash-flood events;
Social and behavioral response to warnings;
Understanding human-nature interactions and the coupling of social and physical dynamics over the space-time scales characteristics of flash floods.