Open AccessExtreme Rainfall in the Mediterranean: What Can We Learn from Observations?
Author(s) -
Nicola Rebora,
L. Molini,
Elisa Casella,
A. Comellas,
Elisabetta Fiori,
Flavio Pig,
F. Siccardi,
Francesco Silvestro,
Simone Tanelli,
Antonio Parodi
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of hydrometeorology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.733
H-Index - 123
eISSN - 1525-755X
pISSN - 1525-7541
DOI - 10.1175/jhm-d-12-083.1
Subject(s) - orography , predictability , flash flood , environmental science , climatology , meteorology , mediterranean climate , spectroradiometer , rain gauge , orographic lift , mediterranean sea , extreme weather , precipitation , climate change , geology , geography , flood myth , oceanography , reflectivity , physics , archaeology , quantum mechanics , optics
Flash floods induced by extreme rainfall events represent one of the most life-threatening phenomena in the Mediterranean. While their catastrophic ground effects are well documented by postevent surveys, the extreme rainfall events that generate them are still difficult to observe properly. Being able to collect observations of such events will help scientists to better understand and model these phenomena. The recent flash floods that hit the Liguria region (Italy) between the end of October and beginning of November 2011 give us the opportunity to use the measurements available from a large number of sensors, both ground based and spaceborne, to characterize these events. In this paper, the authors analyze the role of the key ingredients (e.g., unstable air masses, moist low-level jets, steep orography, and a slow-evolving synoptic pattern) for severe rainfall processes over complex orography. For the two Ligurian events, this role has been analyzed through the available observations (e.g., Meteosat Second Generation, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, the Italian Radar Network mosaic, and the Italian rain gauge network observations). The authors then address the possible role of sea–atmosphere interactions and propose a characterization of these events in terms of their predictability.