MEDEWSA – Mediterranean and pan-European forecast and Early Warning System against natural hazards
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.
Project website: https://www.medewsa.eu/