OSA2.1

Reducing weather risks to transport: air, sea and land
Convener: fraser ralston  | Co-Convener: Christine Le Bot 
Orals
 / Fri, 07 Sep, 11:30–13:15  / Room E I

Our European transport infrastructure is vulnerable to disruption by the weather and from other natural hazards. For example, we know that fog, snow, thunderstorms and volcanic ash all have potential to severely disrupt aviation. On land, rail and road networks may be greatly affected by factors such as snow, ice, flooding and strong winds. At sea, wind, fog, ice but also wind-driven sea motions such as waves, currents and sea ice can strongly affect traffic. Such disruptions can have significant consequences at both national and international level, and can be one of the most costly effects of bad weather.

Increasingly as transport networks expand, with climate change and as our dependence on technology increases, we see that there is a need to mitigate against the disruption of land, sea and air transport.

This session invites contributions from those involved in developing weather-based solutions for reducing risk to air, sea and/or land transport. In particular, participants are encouraged to discuss strategic risk reduction in transport at organizational or national level, perhaps achieved through engagement with the aviation or marine community, stakeholders and users in road and rail networks.

In addition, the session welcomes presentations on other aspects of transport meteorology, including impact studies and verification of forecasts, meteorological services in the cockpit, and environmental impacts of aviation and other forms of transport.

Public information: Road transport snow/ice hazards – mitigation, safety and communication

An open panel discussion with audience participation involving topics concerned with road transport winter hazards. These will include communication methods to drivers and travellers before and during journeys and how we (meteorological providers and partners) convey the important forecast messaging, especially with severe weather.
- How and what can we do to improve road safety.
- How much should traffic flow be taken into account with respect to snowfalls and how this affects road states and driver behaviour.
- How can we better handle ice incidents (either surface water freezing or freezing rain events), indeed what is the best advice when we know de icing activity will be compromised.
- Is there a critical combination of snow/wind/temperature/visibility whereby driver behaviour suffers enough to rapidly increase vehicle incidents, or are incidents random and too hard to predict with any real confidence.
Other related road traffic weather hazards will be discussed with views sought on best practice for mitigation and safety/prevention of accidents.