Ereignis-Datenbank für meteorologische Extremereignisse – MEDEA (Event Database for Meteorological Extreme Events – MEDEA). Report StartClim.3c, pp. 36

The main task of the Meteorological extreme Event Data information system for the Eastern Alpine region (MEDEA) is the long range storing for the various range of meteorological extreme event data in Austria. Perspectively the possibility for specific analysis shall be given. The state-of-the-art concerning MEDEA can be summarized as follows: - The MORIS data information system developed at the Umweltbundesamt was tested successfully due to its potential for the requirements of MEDEA. The following needs were in the focus: 1. Integration of a wide-range data spectrum (e.g. georeferenced – not georeferenced, “hard“ natural science data – “soft” socio-economic data) 2. flexibility towards new research projects/programmes of the Austrian climate research community (e.g. ClimRisk, possible StartClim-successor, ProVision) 3. integration of uncertainty specifications belonging to the various data - A preliminary object classification has been carried out. - A first evaluation of the anticipated data and their uncertainty has been carried out. - The first StartClim data sets were imported successfully into MEDE

Meteorological extreme event data information system for Austria: MEDEA (Meteorologicalextreme Event Data information system for the Eastern Alpine region)

MEDEA is primarily designed to compile data (and secure them over the mid- and long-term) on extreme meteorological events from various scientific disciplines. An overall picture of extreme events can only be gained if the full range of data – meteorological to socioeconomic data – is simultaneously available, and if the causal chains specified in StartClim.6 are supported by data throughout. At the next level, the explicit incorporation of data uncertainty would be a necessary step toward improved uncertainty and risk assessments in the analysis of extreme events. This will be an important and often demanded contribution to incorporating these issues in climate and climate impact research

StartClim2004F: Continuation and further development of the MEDEA event data base (Heat and Drought and their Impacts in Austria). Final Report - StartClim2004, p.24-27

In 2002, Austrian climatologists founded the research platform AustroClim. Its goal is to meet the challenges that climate change poses to science and to support the necessary decisions that need to be made in the political and economic sectors and by each and every individual. This is to be achieved in an interdisciplinary approach that will provide the basis for the decision- making process. In light of AustroClim’s call for a coordinated climatological research effort, and based on an initiative of the Austrian Federal Minister of the Environment, six funding partners1 commissioned the Start Project Climate Protection: „StartClim – First Analyses of Extreme Weather Events and their Impact in Austria“ (StartClim2003). The BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences as representative of the AustroClim Research Platform agreed to act as the project leader for StartClim. The administrative tasks were assumed by the Federal Environment Agency. StartClim continued in 2004 by sponsoring research on “heat and drought” and is now set up as a program initiating research in climate change topics not yet established in Austria. StartClim research projects are intended to subsequently be carried farther in the framework of normal research funding or as studies commissioned by interested stakeholders

Weiterführung und Ausbau von MEDEA and MEDEA V1.1 Handbuch (Continuation and Further Development of the MEDEA Event Data Base)

The main goal of the event database MEDEA that was initiated within StartClim for the collation of meteorological extreme events is the mid- and long-range storage and safekeeping of diverse types of interdisciplinary datasets related to meteorological extreme events in Austria. Additionally, it should provide access to the Austrian climatology community for specific analysis and queries