EGU Topical Conference Series
11th Plinius Conference on Mediterranean Storms
Barcelona, Spain, 07 – 11 September 2009

Objectives of the Conference

Since its advent, the 11th Plinius Conference on Mediterranean Storms has provided a crucial interdisciplinary contribution for improving our understanding of hazardous storms over the Mediterranean basin capable of producing strong winds, heavy rains, explosive landslides, and other related extremes. The objective of the 2009 Conference, the 11th of the series, is to provide an interdisciplinary forum for presentations and discussions of our current state of knowledge, as well as motivating new research and applications within the variety of disciplines related to Mediterranean storms and concomitant human hazards.

Over these last 10 years, we have achieved enormous success in our understanding of many of the basic scientific aspects of the triggering, growth, maintenance, and physical impacts of Mediterranean storms, as well as achieving acceptable levels in some of the areas of model prediction concerning storm lifecycles and their hazardous impacts. Given this progress, at this year's conference, we are encouraging an even greater focus on interdisciplinary participation. This will be achieved by continuing to reach out to scientific experts in the fields of meteorology, climatology, hydrology, and geomorphology, but also extending our reach into the disciplines of oceanography, sociology, economics, engineering, and the government management sector. Experts from these additional disciplines will be able to present their own unique perspectives on how to understand and manage storm-related disasters across the Mediterranean basin.

Scientific topics will be wide ranging, including: (i) the nature and physical processes of extreme events; (ii) possible changes in storm behaviour resulting from anticipated changes in climate; (iii) advanced techniques to observe, monitor and forecast hazardous storms; and (iv) relationships between atmospheric and surface processes for both land and sea situations, with particular emphasis on the effects of coupled processes in generating damaging floods and landslides. This 11th Plinius Conference on Mediterranean Storms will be enhanced by lectures addressing socio-economic implications of hazardous storms, as well as lectures focused on risk mitigation and resilience in the framework of sustainable development.  This conference will also provide a meeting venue for various ongoing international initiatives and projects which seek better ways to investigate or cope with Mediterranean Storms.

Issues to be addressed by the 11th Plinius Conference on Mediterranean Storms will generally fit within one of the following 12 topic areas:

• Topic 1: Societal Impacts, Risk Management, Responses, and Education
• Topic 2: Climate Change Impacts on Mediterranean Storms
• Topic 3: Paleofloods and Historical Information Concerning Damaging Mediterranean Storms
                (floods, tornadoes, heavy winds, ground effects, etc.)
• Topic 4: Remote Sensing of Storms
• Topic 5: Storm Processes (genesis, cyclogenesis, storm track, precipitation physics, water cycling, etc.)
• Topic 6: Mesoscale Modelling and Data Assimilation
• Topic 7: Hydrological Processes and Modelling
• Topic 8: Flash Floods: From Observations to Forecasting
• Topic 9: Nowcasting
• Topic 10: Operational Meteorological and Hydrological Forecasting
• Topic 11: Air-Sea Interactions, Ocean Waves, and Coastal Surges
• Topic 12: Rainfall-Triggered Landslides and Coastal Landslides/Erosion

The Conference will be organized into topical sessions, roughly related to the 12 topics given, co-convened by two or three members of the Scientific Committee and/or Steering Committee. When submitting an abstract, please indicate the topic area to which you're abstract is most closely related.

This year's Plinius Conference will also host four parallel international meetings, which will be open to all people who register for the Plinius Conference:

• The Open Session of the European FLASH Project (Observations, Analysis and Modelling of Lightning Activity in Thunderstorms, for use in Short Term Forecasting of Flash Floods), addressing the improvement of flash flood forecasting within the Mediterranean basin. It will be held on Monday 07 September 2009.
• The joint MedCLIVAR/HYMEX meeting concerning collection of precipitation data associated with Mediterranean storms. It will be held on Monday 07 September 2009.
• The annual meeting of the MEDEX Project (MEDiterranean EXperiment) of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a project devoted to the improvement of Mediterranean Storms forecasting and including all the countries of the Mediterranean Region, with representatives from their operational meteorological and/or hydrometeorological offices as well as universities and scientific centres. It will be held on Tuesday 08 September 2009.
• The MED-FRIEND "Extreme Events" meeting (Mediterranean Flow Regimes from International Experimental and Network Data, UNESCO International Hydrological Programme), a half-day reunion for internal discussion and diffusion of information within the involved countries.