Geomorphologically based early warning system for flood events in minor hilly catchments and local urban areas: a case study in the Abruzzo region (Central Italy)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tommaso Piacentini ◽  
Enrico Miccadei ◽  
Cristiano Carabella ◽  
Fausto Boccabella ◽  
Silvia Ferrante ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Warning ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Early Warning System ◽  
Heavy Rainfall ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Civil Protection ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Critical Areas ◽  
Heavy Rainfall Events

<p>Urban and small catchments flooding is a common type of natural hazard caused by intense rainfall, which may cause inundation to roads, buildings, and infrastructure, interrupting transportation, power lines and, other critical urban infrastructure systems, damaging properties and threatening people’s lives. The expansion of urban areas and infrastructure over the last 50 years has led to a marked increase in flood risk.</p><p>The coastal and hilly areas of Central Italy have been largely affected by heavy rainfall and flood/flash-flood events in recent times. The Apennine hilly piedmont and the coastal hills of Abruzzo have been affected by moderate to heavy events (rainfall >35 mm/h and 100-220 mm/d), which caused damages to minor and major urban areas. In this study, the Feltrino Stream area and the Lanciano town were investigated for the realization of a local early warning system for heavy rainfall events and flooding. The project is funded by the Abruzzo Region within the frame of a regional Project named “Communicate to protect” and developed in collaboration with the Lanciano Municipality and with the Regional Civil Protection office.</p><p>The Feltrino Stream basin is located in the hilly area of southeastern Abruzzo, in the eastern piedmont of the Maiella massif (Central Apennines). The basin ranges from about 400 m a.s.l. to sea level, with an overall morphology characterized by a mesa and plateau relief and SW-NE elongated valleys. The Lanciano Town is developed on a mesa relief carved by minor valleys, largely modified and filled by anthropic activities.</p><p>In this work, the Feltrino Stream was investigated through a drainage basin scale geomorphological analysis incorporating (i) the morphometry of orography and hydrography, (ii) temperature and rainfall data analysis, (iii) acquisition of available geological, geomorphological, and hazard data, (iv) detail urban hydrography analysis and geomorphological field mapping, for the definition of a geodatabase of the geo-hydrological critical areas. The analysis allowed defining the arrangement of a rainfall, hydrometry and flood monitoring system integrating at local scale the existing regional monitoring network. The integration of the monitoring system and the critical areas in a web cloud digital system allowed to plan and realize an early warning system, based on the use of a digital app for smartphone. The warning system is being calibrated for the effectiveness during heavy rainfall events. After calibration, the system will support the local civil protection activities of the Lanciano Municipality. Moreover, under the supervision of the civil protection responsible, it is expected to be implemented as an automatic system for smartphone-based early warning of people exploiting the inbuilt geolocalization features of the recent smartphone.</p>

scholarly journals Geomorphology-Based Analysis of Flood Critical Areas in Small Hilly Catchments for Civil Protection Purposes and Early Warning Systems: The Case of the Feltrino Stream and the Lanciano Urban Area (Abruzzo, Central Italy)

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 2228
Author(s):  
Tommaso Piacentini ◽  
Cristiano Carabella ◽  
Fausto Boccabella ◽  
Silvia Ferrante ◽  
Carlo Gregori ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Area ◽  
Early Warning ◽  
Drainage Basin ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Early Warning Systems ◽  
Urban Stream ◽  
Civil Protection ◽  
Critical Areas ◽  
Basin Scale

This work is based on a drainage basin-scale geomorphological investigation combined with flood modeling. It is focused on the assessment of flood critical areas for the implementation of a geomorphology-based urban Early Warning System (EWS) in the urban area of Lanciano and the Feltrino Stream basin (a minor coastal basin of the Abruzzo hills, Central Italy). This area was investigated by combining: pre-existing geological, geomorphological, and hazard data and new detailed field surveys and mapping of geomorphological and hydrographical features (superficial and buried natural and urban stream network). The study was integrated with 2D flood numerical modeling for verifying the expected flooded areas and calibrating the critical areas. All the collected data were integrated into a geodatabase, and an expert-based approach through a geomorphology-based matrix allowed us to define the main categories of flood critical areas. The assessment of the critical areas supported the emplacement of a network of rainfall, temperature, and flood gauges. The geodatabase, the derived critical areas, and the gauge network contributed to set up an urban EWS, integrated with the regional forecast-based warning system. This system provides combined forecast-based, rainfall threshold-based, and flood monitoring-based alerts for floods. It incorporates communication tools for civil protection management. Finally, the EWS provides a tool for civil protection purposes and for the management of flood critical areas and the mitigation of the related risks by local authorities and will be integrated with sensors related to other hazards (i.e., landslides, wind, etc.).

An Urban Air Pollution Early Warning System Based on PM2.5 Prediction Applied in Ploiesti City

2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 858-863
Author(s):  
Mihaela Oprea ◽  
Marius Olteanu ◽  
Radu Teodor Ianache
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Early Warning ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Early Warning System ◽  
Urban Air Pollution ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Air Pollutant ◽  
Pollution Level ◽  
Urban Air ◽  
Prediction Approach

Fine particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 �m (i.e. PM2.5) is an air pollutant of special concern for urban areas due to its potential significant negative effects on human health, especially on children and elderly people. In order to reduce these effects, new tools based on PM2.5 monitoring infrastructures tailored to specific urban regions are needed by the local and regional environmental management systems for the provision of an expert support to decision makers in air quality planning for cities and also, to inform in real time the vulnerable population when PM2.5 related air pollution episodes occur. The paper focuses on urban air pollution early warning based on PM2.5 prediction. It describes the methodology used, the prediction approach, and the experimental system developed under the ROKIDAIR project for the analysis of PM2.5 air pollution level, health impact assessment and early warning of sensitive people in the Ploiesti city. The PM2.5 concentration evolution prediction is correlated with PM2.5 air pollution and health effects analysis, and the final result is processed by the ROKIDAIR Early Warning System (EWS) and sent as a message to the affected population via email or SMS. ROKIDAIR EWS is included in the ROKIDAIR decision support system.

scholarly journals Algorithm to Predict the Rainfall Starting Point as a Function of Atmospheric Pressure, Humidity, and Dewpoint

Climate ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 131
Author(s):  
Alfonso Gutierrez-Lopez ◽  
Ivonne Cruz-Paz ◽  
Martin Muñoz Mandujano
Keyword(s):  
Early Warning ◽  
Atmospheric Pressure ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Early Warning System ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Forecast Model ◽  
Flood Damage ◽  
Precipitation Forecast ◽  
Rainfall Forecasting ◽  
Starting Point

Forecasting extreme precipitations is one of the main priorities of hydrology in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Flood damage in urban areas increases every year, and is mainly caused by convective precipitations and hurricanes. In addition, hydrometeorological monitoring is limited in most countries in this region. Therefore, one of the primary challenges in the LAC region the development of a good rainfall forecasting model that can be used in an early warning system (EWS) or a flood early warning system (FEWS). The aim of this study was to provide an effective forecast of short-term rainfall using a set of climatic variables, based on the Clausius–Clapeyron relationship and taking into account that atmospheric water vapor is one of the variables that determine most meteorological phenomena, particularly regarding precipitation. As a consequence, a simple precipitation forecast model was proposed from data monitored at every minute, such as humidity, surface temperature, atmospheric pressure, and dewpoint. With access to a historical database of 1237 storms, the proposed model allows use of the right combination of these variables to make an accurate forecast of the time of storm onset. The results indicate that the proposed methodology was capable of predicting precipitation onset as a function of the atmospheric pressure, humidity, and dewpoint. The synoptic forecast model was implemented as a hydroinformatics tool in the Extreme Precipitation Monitoring Network of the city of Queretaro, Mexico (RedCIAQ). The improved forecasts provided by the proposed methodology are expected to be useful to support disaster warning systems all over Mexico, mainly during hurricanes and flashfloods.

Application of machine learning to an early warning system for very short-term heavy rainfall

2019 ◽  
Vol 568 ◽  
pp. 1042-1054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seung-Hyun Moon ◽  
Yong-Hyuk Kim ◽  
Yong Hee Lee ◽  
Byung-Ro Moon
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Early Warning ◽  
Early Warning System ◽  
Heavy Rainfall ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Short Term

scholarly journals Assessment of flood induced by heavy rainfall using advanced methodologies, as a premise for an integrated flood early warning system

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ελισσάβετ Φελώνη
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Early Warning ◽  
Early Warning System ◽  
Heavy Rainfall ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Multi Criteria Decision Making

Η διδακτορική διατριβή (Δ.Δ.) με τίτλο: «Αξιολόγηση των ισχυρών βροχοπτώσεων που προκαλούν πλημμύρες με χρήση νέων τεχνολογιών, ως προοίμιο για ένα ολοκληρωμένο σύστημα έγκαιρης προειδοποίησης – Η περίπτωση της Αττικής» έχει ως αντικείμενο την εκτίμηση και ανάλυση των πλημμυρογόνων επεισοδίων βροχής αλλά και των πλημμυρών καθαυτών, αξιοποιώντας πρωτότυπα σύνολα δεδομένων, νέες τεχνολογίες και μεθοδολογίες. Η συνολική μεθοδολογία που αναπτύχθηκε εφαρμόστηκε στην Περιφέρεια Αττικής για την περίοδο 2005 – 2016, λαμβάνοντας υπόψη το σύνολο των πλημμυρικών γεγονότων στο ηπειρωτικό τμήμα της Περιφέρειας. Η χρήση των νέων τεχνολογιών και ιδιαίτερα των δυνατοτήτων των Συστημάτων Γεωγραφικών Πληροφοριακών (GIS) έχει μεγάλη σημασία σε ολόκληρη την ανάλυση, καθώς πρόκειται κυρίως για ένα γεωχωρικό πρόβλημα που προκαλείται εν μέρει από τους αποκαλούμενους στη Δ.Δ. «στατικούς» παράγοντες. Επίσης, είναι ένα πρόβλημα λήψης αποφάσεων πολλαπλών κριτηρίων, έτσι τα οφέλη από την εφαρμογή των μεθόδων πολυκριτηριακής ανάλυσης (Multi - Criteria Decision Making, “MCDM“) είναι αναμφισβήτητα καθοριστικά σε διάφορα στάδια της Δ.Δ. και ιδιαίτερα στον καθορισμό των ευάλωτων σε πλημμύρες περιοχών – παράμετρος που λαμβάνεται υπόψη κατά την οριοθέτηση 30 υποπεριοχών για τις οποίες πραγματοποιείται λεπτομερέστερη ανάλυση αναφορικά με ένα υποσύνολο παραγόντων. Εκτός των στατικών, διερευνήθηκαν και άλλοι παράγοντες που χαρακτηρίζονται ως «δυναμικοί», επειδή διαφοροποιούνται σε επίπεδο επεισοδίου βροχής. Οι παράγοντες αυτοί σχετίζονται με τις επικρατούσες υδρολογικές συνθήκες, την συνοπτική κατάσταση της ατμόσφαιρας και το γενικότερο υδρομετεωρολογικό πλαίσιο τις ημέρες των πλημμυρών. Οι εν λόγω παράγοντες υπολογίστηκαν και διερευνήθηκαν, ως ένας τρόπος να αξιολογηθούν τα χαρακτηριστικά των βροχοπτώσεων (π.χ., συνολικό ύψος, ένταση και τύπος βροχής, καιρικές συνθήκες κλπ.) που δυνητικά οδηγούν σε πλημμυρογένεση και που, σύμφωνα με την ίδια ανάλυση, αποδεικνύεται πως ορισμένοι εξ’ αυτών είναι καθοριστικής σημασίας για την πρόκληση πλημμύρας στην περιοχή. Ειδικότερα, ανάμεσα στους στατικούς παράγοντες η κλίση του και η ποσοστιαία αδιαπερατότητα των επιφανειών κρίνονται ως πιο καθοριστικοί παράγοντες. Επίσης, για ένα επιλεγμένο case study αξιολογήθηκε και ο παράγων «τρωτότητα κατασκευών» μέσω της αξιολόγησης επιμέρους χαρακτηριστικών για 252 ιδιοκτησίες που καταγράφηκαν ως πλημμυρικά συμβάντα κατά το επεισόδιο του Οκτωβρίου 2014. Αναφορικά με τους δυναμικούς παράγοντες, σε ποσοστό 55-70% οι πλημμύρες στην Αττική συνδέονται με κατακρήμνιση τύπου “convective“, το οποίο είναι σύμφωνο με τη διεθνή βιβλιογραφία για τη Μεσόγειο. Ο καθορισμός του τύπου της κατακρήμνισης βασίστηκε σε μια μεθοδολογία ταξινόμησης που επίσης αναπτύχθηκε και εφαρμόστηκε στο πλαίσιο της Δ.Δ. Ακόμα, τα πιο σημαντικά πλημμυρικά επεισόδια συνδέονται με την ύπαρξη ενός βαρομετρικού χαμηλού το οποίο ισχυροποιείται και βαθαίνει στα δυτικά της Αττικής, χωρίς ωστόσο να μπορεί να καθοριστεί ένα σαφές και ενιαίο μοτίβο για τις υπό εξέταση ατμοσφαιρικές παραμέτρους, γεγονός που πέρα από την ανάλυση ανά επεισόδιο, διερευνήθηκε σε εποχιακό επίπεδο και ανάλογα με τον τύπο κατακρήμνισης. Απεναντίας, η σε υψηλή χωρική ανάλυση (για τις 30 υποπεριοχές) συσχέτιση της μέγιστης έντασης βροχής (για διάφορες διάρκειες) με την εκδήλωση ή μη πλημμυρικών συμβάντων κατέδειξε τη δυνατότητα καθορισμού ενός σαφούς άνω ορίου εκδήλωσης πλημμύρας κατόπιν αφαίρεσης τυχόν εξωκείμενων τιμών. Η ισχυρή σύνδεση του εν λόγω παράγοντα με την πρόκληση πλημμυρών στην περιοχή παρέχει τη δυνατότητα σχεδιασμού ενός εργαλείου έγκαιρης προειδοποίησης για τον κίνδυνο πλημμύρας. Στο πλαίσιο της Δ.Δ. για το συγκεκριμένο εργαλείο εισάγεται ο όρος “F - EWT” (Flood- Early Warning Tool), το οποίο σχεδιάζεται για τις 30 υποπεριοχές και αξιολογείται για πραγματικά επεισόδια βροχής, όπου και ενδεικτικά παρουσιάζονται τα αποτελέσματα για την πλημμύρα του Οκτωβρίου 2014.

scholarly journals STORM EARLY WARNING SYSTEM AS A LAST PLUG-IN OF A REGIONAL OPERATIONAL OCEANOGRAPHY SYSTEM: THE CASE OF THE GULF OF CADIZ

2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (33) ◽  
pp. 54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theocharis A. Plomaritis ◽  
Javier Benavente ◽  
Laura Del Rio ◽  
Emma Reyes ◽  
Carlos Dastis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Warning ◽  
Early Warning System ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Model Output ◽  
Civil Protection ◽  
Gulf Of Cadiz ◽  
Indicator Approach ◽  
Operational Oceanography ◽  
Gulf Of Cádiz ◽  
On Line

The implementation of an Early Warning System for storm impacts in the urban beach of Cadiz is presented. The model train is described in detail together with the downscaling procedure. Emphasis is given on how the morphodynamic model receives the necessary information from the regional operational oceanography system specifically developed for the Gulf of Cadiz. The translation of the morphodynamic model output into useful information for the civil protection and other responsible authorities is provided based on the coastal state indicator approach. All the intermediate and final results are presented in a purpose-based on-line application.

scholarly journals Toward a cross-border early-warning system for Central Asia

2015 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacek Stankiewicz ◽  
Dino Bindi ◽  
Adrien Oth ◽  
Stefano Parolai
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Early Warning ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Early Warning System ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Damage Control ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Earthquake Early Warning ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Cross Border

<p>Rapidly expanding urban areas in Central Asia are increasingly vulnerable to seismic risk; but at present, no earthquake early warning (EEW) systems exist in the region despite their successful implementation in other earthquake-prone areas. Such systems aim to provide short (seconds to tens of seconds) warnings of impending disaster, enabling the first risk mitigation and damage control steps to be taken. This study presents the feasibility of a large scale cross-border regional system for Central Asian countries. Genetic algorithms are used to design efficient EEW networks, computing optimal station locations and trigger thresholds in recorded ground acceleration. Installation of such systems within 3 years aims to both reducing the endemic lack of strong motion data in Central Asia that is limiting the possibility of improving seismic hazard assessment, and at providing the first regional earthquake early warning system in the area.</p>

scholarly journals Feasibility Study of an Earthquake Early Warning System in Eastern Central Italy

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Ladina ◽  
Simone Marzorati ◽  
Alessandro Amato ◽  
Marco Cattaneo
Keyword(s):  
Early Warning ◽  
Early Warning System ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Earthquake Early Warning ◽  
Seismic Sources ◽  
Lead Times ◽  
Arrival Times ◽  
Earthquake Early Warning System ◽  
Seismic Networks

An earthquake early warning system (EEWS) is a monitoring infrastructure that allows alerting strategic points (targets) before the arrival of strong shaking waves during an earthquake. In a region like Central Italy, struck by recent and historical destructive earthquakes, the assessment of implementation of an EEWS is a significant challenge due to the proximity of seismic sources to many potential targets, such as historical towns, industrial plants, and hospitals. In order to understand the feasibility of an EEWS in such an area, we developed an original method of event declaration simulation (EDS), a tool for assessing the effectiveness of an EEWS for existing seismic networks, improving them with new stations, and designing new networks for EEW applications. Values of the time first alert (TFA), blind zone radius (BZ), and lead time (LT) have been estimated with respect to selected targets for different network configurations in the study region. Starting from virtual sources homogeneously arranged on regular mesh grids, the alert response was evaluated for actual and improved seismic networks operating in the area, taking into account the effects of the transmission and acquisition systems. In the procedure, the arrival times of the P wave picks, the association binder, the transmission latencies, and the computation times were used to simulate the configuration of PRESTo EEWS, simulating both real-time and playback elaborations of real earthquakes. The NLLOC software was used to estimate P and S arrival times, with a local velocity model also implemented in the PRESTo EEWS. Our results show that, although Italy’s main seismic sources are located close to urban areas, the lead times calculated with the EDS procedure, applied to actual and to improved seismic networks, encourage the implementation of EEWS in the study area. Considering actual delays due to data transmission and computation time, lead times of 5–10 s were obtained simulating real historical events striking some important targets of the region. We conclude that EEWSs are useful tools that can contribute to protecting people from the harmful effects of earthquakes in Italy.

The Mexican Early Warning System for Space Weather

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (S335) ◽  
pp. 236-239
Author(s):  
V. De la Luz ◽  
J. A. González-Esparza ◽  
M. Sergeeva ◽  
P. Corona-Romero ◽  
J. Mejía-Ambriz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Space Weather ◽  
Early Warning ◽  
Early Warning System ◽  
Automatic System ◽  
Weather Prediction ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Disaster Prevention ◽  
Civil Protection ◽  
Web Page ◽  
Local Current

AbstractEarly Warning of Space Weather phenomena is one of the most important products produced by Mexican Space Weather Service (SCiESMEX). The aim is to deliver a verified warning to Mexican National Center for Disaster Prevention (CENAPRED) as well as to general public in near-real time automatically. First, the international pubic warning (or alert) is produced by Space Weather Prediction Center of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S.A. Further, the alert is received by SCiESMEX system, decodified, translated in Spanish and put in the context of local current conditions. The alerts are transformed and validated in agreement to Mexican policies of civil protection and CENAPRED protocols. The automatic system segments the information and delivers the corresponding web- page-alerts, emails, twits, facebook messages and SMS. The latency of the alert is 5 minutes. The code is running since January of 2015 without major interruptions.

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