MEFFE, SATELLITE AND COMBINED SATELLITE-RADAR TECHNIQUES IN METEOROLOGICAL FORECASTING FOR FLOOD EVENTS. A SUMMARY OF THE RESEARCH ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVED RESULTS

MEFFE, a EU Project aiming at mitigating the risk of flood events using nowcasting techniques is close to its conclusion, after three years of activity. The project methodology will be presented, based on combined use of active and passive sensors for a better knowledge of meteorological systems generating floods and defining the characteristics of new nowcasting procedures for rainfall rate intensity. The research activity has been organized in eleven work packages and it will be described enhancing the advantages for the project of gathering competencies in satellite meteorology, radar meteorology and numerical weather prediction. The results achieved will be presented. They are in establishing a climatology of floods in Europe, in generating an archive of radar data for research on selected events, in comparing satellite-derived rain rates and radar measurements, in estimating precipitation by a radar /IR METEOSAT synergy and in general in multisensor observation of precipitating systems. Than will be given a indication of the possibility to transfer the results into nowcasting procedures with improvement in rainfall rate estimates for hydrological models.