Inter-disciplinary post-event surveys to untangle hazard and vulnerability in the impacts of flash-flood events in the Mediterranean.

Abstract

Heavy precipitation events (HPE) and flash floods (FF) are common phenomena over the Mediterranean region. The peculiar topography and geographical location of this area make it especially favorable to the occurrence of intense events. The Mediterranean Sea acts as a vast heat andmoisture reservoir from which baroclinic atmospheric systems pump part of their energy. The steep orography surrounding the Mediterranean Sea favors lifting of the low-level unstable air and initiation of condensation processes. Although they occur in well-known synoptic conditions, these intense rainfall events result from complex interactions between the atmosphere, the sea and continental surfaces. Mesoscale processes (orographic forcing, but also deflection and convergence of air masses, formation of cold pools and down-valley flows, etc.) lead to a variety of convective systems ranging from orographic rainfall events, thunderstorms to the most dangerous stationary mesoscale convective systems (MCS) (Bresson et al. 2012). Despite recent progress due to the assimilation of mesoscale meteorological data in highly resolved numerical weather prediction models, the predictability of thunderstorms and MCSs remains quite low both in terms of intensity and localization