ECMWF, Météo-France, Instituto Português do Mar e de Atmosfera and CIMA Research Foundation met in February to define the strategy for the operational phase of wildfire monitoring within the ARISTOTLE-ENHSP project
On February 4th and 5th, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) hosted experts from three research and forecasting centers. These two days were dedicated to the work and the refinement of the start, in a few months, of the operational phase of wildfires monitoring at pan-European level within the ARISTOTLE-ENHSP project.
Led by the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, ARISTOTLE-ENHSP aims to create a system of services on risk deriving from natural phenomena, guaranteeing the knowledge exchange and the coordination between the partners. Within this context, CIMA Research Foundation deals with flood forecasting and monitoring at the global and pan-European level, and with the wildfire risk at the pan-European level. On wildfires, a demo phase was put in place last summer, as we explained here.
The meeting in February allowed the agreement on the standard procedure and a format for the reports that will be provided to the European Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) starting in May, when the wildfire component of the project will be operational. As explained by Francesca Di Giuseppe, the project lead at ECMWF, the forecaster from Météo-France, Instituto Português do Mar e de Atmosfera and CIMA Research Foundation will have turns, and in each turn three weekly reports for the risk analysis must be produced. The reports will be provided to the ERCC with a procedure similar to that used for floods. This process will allow, if necessary, a pre-activation of national civil protections and the coordination in case of emergency.
“During the turn, the forecaster will be provided with various observational and modeling tools for the production of wildfire risk index. In this way it is possible to identify the areas on which to focus and to organize on time the management of possible fires”, says Paolo Fiorucci, head of the Wildfire Risk Management and Forest Conservation Department of CIMA Research Foundation. “The meeting has been very important for refining the strategy applied during the demo phase. For the operational phase, starting in few months, we want to make the service even more effective”.
To learn more, here the news published by ECMWF