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MEDEX - Mediterranean Experiment on Cyclones that produce High Impact Weather in the Mediterranean

Title MEDEX - Mediterranean Experiment on Cyclones that produce High Impact Weather in the Mediterranean
Abstract MEDEX (Mediterranean Experiment on Cyclones that produce High Impact Weather in the Mediterranean) is designed to contribute to the better understanding and short-range forecasting of high impact weather events in the Mediterranean, mainly heavy rain and strong winds. Due to the supposed close relationship between high impact weather and cyclones, MEDEX will be focused to Mediterranean cyclones that produce high impact weather.
A dynamically oriented climatology of cyclones and high impact events is the first milestone of MEDEX. A second milestone will be the determination of sensitive areas where an observing effort will provide a more accurate prediction of Mediterranean cyclones, followed by impact analyses of additional data in these areas. From both, recommendations about the observing systems, data assimilation procedures and modelling and refined conceptual models for forecasters will arise.
In parallel, an evaluation of the societal impacts of the phenomena and of the benefits of forecasting accuracy improvements will be done.
The climatology of cyclones and high impact events performance requires a continuous and systematic effort and will require one or two permanent MEDEX Centres.
The establishment of a Data Assimilation Mediterranean-oriented Centre (DAMC), including a data base centre and a data assimilation centre, is intended in order to provide facilities for numerical experiments and sensitive studies.
Key words High impact weather events, Mediterranean cyclones, numerical model, weather prediction
Contact person dr. sc. Branka Ivančan-Picek, picek(at)cirus.dhz.hr, tel. 4565 678,
dr.sc. Krešo Pandžić, pandzic(at)cirus.dhz.hr, tel. 4565 684
Duration 2000. -
Cooperation WMO WWRP (World Weather Research Program), THORPEX, Spain, France, Portugal, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Turkey, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Israel, Egypt