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AVI 080 Project "ACROSS" |
"Analyzed Climatology of Rainfall Obtained from Satellite and Surface data
for the Mediterranean Basin"
Minutes of the Start-up Meeting
Savona (Italy), October 27th - 28th, 1995
This meeting was called on October 27-28, 1995 to start-up the project and to plan in details the activities to be carried out within the first 12 months period. The start-up meeting was held at the Research Centre for Environmental Monitoring of the University of Genova located in Savona.
The following scientists and technical staff from the involved institutions
participated to the meeting:
University
of Genova - Hydraulic Institute:
University
of Bristol:
Middle
East Technical University (Ankara):
University
of Jordan: The discussion during the meeting was scheduled according to the time table agreed.
Prof. Siccardi introduced the participants each other and reviewed the work plan for the whole project duration (24 months). He then focused the discussion on the activities to be carried out during the first semester.
The main activity scheduled for the first semester was the collection of satellite images and ground based data. Though the starting date of the project was set at 01/07/1995, due to some administrative problems and to the unexpected resignement of the Syrian partner, the project activity started late and with a lack of data from the Southern Mediterranean Regions. As a result part of the work is still due at the date of this meeting. The methods and time steps required to overcome this lack of data were discussed: it was agreed that the solution can be given only after the consortium and the EC will have included an other Syrian partners in the project, as explicitly required by the EC Officer in charge. In order to better coordinate the research activity within the project each participant was required to briefly describe the rainfall climatology of the country of origin and the methodologies used in data collection and collation.
Dr. Eric Barrett from the University of Bristol described the available remote sensing techniques that make use of satellite and radar data for climatology studies. A database of satellite images for passive microwave sensors is available for the Mediterranean area: the whole period from November 1977 up to the present day is covered with data coming from different sensors (SSMR, SSM/I) and different platforms (F8-F10-F11-F13). Dr. Barrett argued on the technical characteristics of the various sensors with particular reference to the space and time scales of the satellite sampling. In addition, meteorological radar data from Spain, France and Italy are potentially available over the Mediterranean area for calibration. Methods for satellite rainfall monitoring and the assessment of land surface parameters will be specifically developed for ACROSS. The former will use algorithms that are calibrated by means of the UK-FRONTIERS radar network dataset. The validation of the results will be carried out using radar and coastal rain gauge data from the Mediterranean area.
A discussion about the suitability of radar data from UK to calibrate for the retrieval of precipitation in the Mediterranean Regions was started among the participants. It was agreed that this will be checked out by comparison with existing and/or ongoing experiments where results are made available within the scientific community.
Prof. Siccardi was then given the floor to review the typical climatology of the whole Mediterranean area from Spain to the Middle East and Turkey and to focus briefly on the climatology of Italy. This is characterized by two main wet seasons- Fall and Spring - when extreme rainfall events mainly occur - separated by two dry periods during Winter and Summer. Prof. Siccardi argued that - though the study of rainfall climatology concerns mainly water resources management problems, and thus long-term patterns of variation - a suitable description of the climatology of the Mediterranean area should also deal with the description of the extremes (storms and droughts). There are regions, indeed, where a single storm in the wet season may sum up two thirds of the whole monthly rainfall as obtained from climatological records.
For this reason the database of the traditional rainfall data collected from raingauge networks at the ground must be organized in two separate sections: one for continuous climatological records (at daily scale) and one for extreme events (at hourly scale). Prof. Siccardi concluded with a description of the state and density of the raingauge network of Italy and an evaluation of the amount of data accessible to the ACROSS Project.
Prof. Altinbilek and Dr. Kutoglu from the Middle East Technical University (METU) of Ankara described the rainfall climatology of Turkey. The Turkish territory is made up of four representative climatological regions: the Mediterranean, the central Anatolia, the Black Sea region and East Anatolia. The quite dense network of climatological stations of Turkey was also described. Prof. Altinbilek provided the following documents for use in the ACROSS Project:
Dr. E. Salameh from the University of Jordan described the rainfall climatology of Jordan. The territory of Jordan may be subdivided into three regions from west to east: the Jordan valley, the Highlands and the Plateau. The highest annual rainfall amount average occurs over the highlands decreasing drastically toward the Jordan valley and toward the Plateau. The rainy season extends from October to April, with the peak of precipitation taking place during January and February. Dr. Salameh provided a copy of the report of the Jordan Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature entitled "Water Resources of Jordan: present status and future potentials" where the climatology of Jordan is described.
On October 28th, Prof. Siccardi started the discussion by indicating the work yet to be performed under task "Collection of raingauge data from WMO networks and local networks in the study area at a fine resolution", from the present date to the end of the first semester.
A research report for internal use must be provided for this task including indications about the structure of the database and a sample of the available data. It was agreed that by the end of November the Hydraulic Institute (HI) of the University of Genova, which has the responsibility of this research report, will produce a draft report with the database description and will circulate it among partners. They will send their comments and observations within the next two weeks. The research report is expected to be finalized during the first two weeks of January 1996. A draft index of the report was suggested by Prof. Siccardi and agreed by other partners.
Dr. Todd presented the draft indexes of the research reports to be produced under the responsibility of the University of Bristol: "Development and calibration of techniques for processing SSMR and SSM/I data for rainfall and land surface characteristics" and Acquisition and preparation of satellite images over the established window over the Mediterranean area for the period 1978-1994".
Dr. Lanza presented the draft summary of the research report for task "Development of graphical tools for data analysis and presentation" to be produced under the responsibility of the University of Genova. Finally, some administrative issues were discussed. The main problem to be solved is the resignement of the Syrian partner. University of Genova has the responsibility to subcontract part of the work that is now lacking to a different Mediterranean partner, possibly still located in Syria. Dr.Salameh and Dr. Masarweh argued that they would be able to contact partners of the Arabian League in order to find a subcontractor from at least the Middle East Mediterranean countries. It was agreed that the partners will propose suitable candidates in the short period.
Concerning the training and mobility actions the consortium agreed that the exchanges of researchers will start at the beginning of 1997 between the Middle East Technical University and the University of Bristol and/or the University of Genova. Details for these actions will be therefore discussed during the next meeting.
