Projects

MedEWSa is a three-year project (2023-2026) funded by the Horizon Europe program and coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization, involving 30 European and non-European partners, including ItaliaMeteo Agency .

The main objective of MedEWSa is to realize new solutions to intervene promptly, accurately and effectively during the outbreak of extreme weather events, starting with the definition of accurate financial forecasts and early warning systems (EWS).

Specifically, MedEWSa will provide a sophisticated, comprehensive and innovative pan-European-Mediterranean-African solution that, from existing tools, will develop an integrated multi-hazard EWS impact-based approach.

In the eight pilot sites carefully selected on the basis of geographic area and vulnerability, four pairs of test areas will be created with the aim of delving into the following specific risks:

– Greece (Attica) – Ethiopia (National Parks): fire and extreme weather events (drought, wind)

– Italy (Venice) – Egypt (Alexandria/Nile Delta): coastal flooding and storm surges

– Slovakia (Kosice) – Georgia (Tbilisi): floods and landslides

– Spain (Catalonia) – Sweden (nationwide): heat waves, droughts and fires.

These pilot actions should be able to demonstrate the transferability and versatility of the tools developed in MedEWSa.

The Agency’s contribution is mainly related to the Italian pilot case (Venice), which includes support to the other technical partners in order to:

– improve high-resolution sea level rise forecasts from the meteorological scale to the sub-seasonal scale

– strengthen EWSs for flooding in Venice in the short term

– lay the groundwork for preparing an operational system extended to the sub-seasonal time horizon

– Promote collaboration and sharing of knowledge and technology among countries.

ALBATROSS is a 42-month project (2023-2027), funded by the Horizon Europe program and coordinated by the University of Bologna, involving 18 European and African partners, including ItaliaMeteo Agency.

ALBATROSS is based on the understanding that increasing vulnerability due to climate change requires cross-sectoral management of territories with bottom-up approaches based on active community participation. Climate change, in fact, intensifies territorial risk and has a serious impact on migration phenomena, affecting, in particular, sub-Saharan Africa.

Therefore, it is necessary to define more integrated strategies that simultaneously support sustainable growth pathways and climate resilience development in the African context.

ALBATROSS aims to address these challenges by providing innovative and relevant tools and knowledge for decision-making through the co-creation of climate services that will enable the analysis of different factors on ecosystem health, food security, and socioeconomic vulnerability. The ALBATROSS methodological approach will be tested and validated in different areas of the sub-Saharan region through co-design and co-assessment with key stakeholders from potential adaptation actions and plans linked directly to spatial needs.

The Agency will provide valuable input in data extrapolation and information processing through modeling techniques linked in double strand with multifunctional adaptation strategies to counter forced migration, biodiversity loss, and hydro-meteorological risk in the sub-Saharan region.

Italy’s ItaliaMeteo Agency is part of a consortium led by CINECA exploring the interoperable capabilities provided by the Digital Twin Engine to connect the global Digital Twin Weather-Induced Extremes, both developed by ECMWF – European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts – in the European Commission’s Destination Earth initiative (DestinE), with a regional digital twin, GLORI DT (Global-to-Regional ICON Digital Twin). This extension offers a unique opportunity to test technology transfers and draft a project on the potential synergies between DestinE Digital Twins and other complementary national and regional initiatives.

In detail, the Agency is involved in Work Package 4 (Demonstration of platform compatibility), where it coordinates the evaluation activities of the results of the two Digital Twins simulation, the level of interoperability, and access to DestinE data management systems, analyzing the quality of the simulations obtained. The Agency is involved in Work Package 6 (Application cases with regional focus), where it coordinates the evaluation activities of the results for configuring the ICON model and setting up a NEMO model in the Mediterranean, analyzing the quality of the simulations obtained.