DRIHM(2US): An e-Science Environment for Hydrometeorological Research on High-Impact Weather Events

• DOI: 10.1175/bams-d-16-0279.1
• Publication Date: 2017-03-21T18:10:49Z
• Authors: Antonio Parodi; Dieter Kranzlmüller; Andrea Clematis; Emanuele Danovaro; Antonella Galizia; Luis Garrote; Maria Carmen Llasat; Olivier Caumont; Evelyne Richard; Quillon Harpham; Franco Siccardi; Luca Ferraris; Nicola Rebora; Fabio Delogu; Elisabetta Fiori; Luca Molini; Efi Foufoula-Geor...; Daniele D’Agostino
• Keywords: e-Science environment; Hidrometeorologia; Previsió del temps; Temps (Meteorologia); Hydrometeorology; 0207 environmental engineering; Numerical weather prediction; 02 engineering and technology; Flood events; Weather forecasting; 13. Climate action; 11. Sustainability; hydro-meteorological research; Numerical weather forecasting; Weather

AbstractFrom 1970 to 2012, about 9,000 high-impact weather events were reported globally, causing the loss of 1.94 million lives and damage of $2.4 trillion (U.S. dollars). The scientific community is called to action to improve the predictive ability of such events and communicate forecasts and associated risks both to affected populations and to those making decisions. At the heart of this challenge lies the ability to have easy access to hydrometeorological data and models and to facilitate the necessary collaboration between meteorologists, hydrologists, and computer science experts to achieve accelerated scientific advances. Two European Union (EU)-funded projects, Distributed Research Infrastructure for Hydro-Meteorology (DRIHM) and DRIHM to United States of America (DRIHM2US), sought to help address this challenge by developing a prototype e-science environment providing advanced end-to-end services (models, datasets, and postprocessing tools), with the aim of paving the way to a step change in how scientists can approach studying these events, with a special focus on flood events in complex topographic areas. This paper describes the motivation and philosophy behind this prototype e-science environment together with certain key components, focusing on hydrometeorological aspects that are then illustrated through actionable research for a critical flash flood event that occurred in October 2014 in Liguria, Italy.