Natural Hazards, and their associated socio-economic damage costs, are one of the concerns present in some of the societal challenges identified in the current (8th) EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (HORIZON 2020). Specifically, extreme hydro-meteorological events (such as heavy rainfall events, flash floods, etc.) are increasing throughout Europe and what’s more, most of climate models project that heavy precipitation events intensify with climate change and will continue to become more frequent. Although the ability to predict this type of events has improved significantly during the last decades, on regional and local scales the frequency, amount and precise location of precipitation that falls in intense events is often underestimated and/or misleading.
Focused on the Mediterranean region, this session will cover the topics of potential triggers of this type of events, recent advances in dynamical modelling and statistical methods, as well as trends and impacts with climate change in the region.
More specifically, in this session we invite to present studies dealing with any of the following topics:
1. Observational and modelling studies with focus on the physical and dynamical processes (across space-time scales) that define and characterize the potential for heavy rainfall events in the Mediterranean regions
2. Statistical studies and methods for the estimation of return periods, regional trends, etc. in the Mediterranean
3. Studies on climate change impacts on the regional and local scales in the Mediterranean