Warning system

Stromboli: The Lighthouse of the Mediterranean

Francisco Cáceres September 18, 2019

Figure 1. Stromboli night activity (Image credit: Katja Bigge. Distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

In the last months two paroxysmal explosive eruptions took place at Stromboli volcano: the first one, totally unexpected, on 3rd July (Video 1) that sadly cost the life of a person and the second and, currently, last one about three weeks ago, on the 28th August (Video 2). Today we try to answer a couple of questions about Stromboli and its eruptions. Are these paroxysmal eruptions common or rare ...[Read More]

Cyclone Fani: A success in weather forecast and disaster preparedness

Giulia Roder August 20, 2019

This Copernicus Sentinel-3 image captured on 1 May 2019 shows Cyclone Fani. In the image, the width of the storm is estimated to be around 700-800 km. (Image Credit: ESA - CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO)

Hurricane, cyclone and typhoon are different terms for the same weather phenomenon: torrential rain and maximum sustained wind speeds (near centre) exceeding 119 km/hour (World Meteorological Organization https://public.wmo.int/en). The terminology depends on the region (e.g. in the western North Pacific, they are called typhoons; in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea they are named as cyclones ...[Read More]

Hot topic for a hot summer: extreme weather and climate events in the ANYWHERE project – A Pan-European Platform for Multi-Hazard Early Warning and associated Impacts

Jonathan Rizzi August 5, 2019

Photo source: http://anywhere-h2020.eu

In this post, I have the pleasure to interview Dr.ir. Henny A.J. van Lanen. He is Associate Professor in the Hydrology & Quantitative Water Management Group of Wageningen University and he has been involved in several EU projects. Further, he is involved in many international groups or networks: Coordinator of the European FRIEND programme (EURO-FRIEND Water, Flow Regimes from International Ex ...[Read More]

I-REACT – ‘Fight disasters with your phone’

Vale Cigala June 24, 2019

The I-REACT app on a field test. Image credit: I-REACT.

Technology has never been more at hand than at the time we are living. Smartphones and the many apps on the market are proof of this. As I recently discovered, there is also an app developed to learn about natural hazards and, as they claim, fight disasters! This app is called I-REACT, and it was born from a homonymous innovation project funded by the European Commission and developed by a consort ...[Read More]