CIMA Research Foundation has been doing hydro-meteorological research on the Ligurian territory since 2002 in coordination with various entities of Regione Liguria and, in particular, since 2016, CIMA Research Foundation has established a direct collaboration with ARPAL. The goal is to apply and test in the Ligurian environment the tools resulting from operational research aimed at short-term prediction and monitoring of ground effects related to extreme events. The overall goal is to improve Early Warning Systems.
Over the years, CIMA Research Foundation researchers have developed modeling tools that enable the prediction of extreme events, floods and their corresponding effects on the soil, especially with regard to hydrology and its connection with meteorology. In recent years, CIMA Research Foundation has also begun to work with Arpal in the area of hydraulic modeling to apply flood models that are able on the one hand to improve the mapping of flood areas and on the other hand to be used as an additional component of land monitoring systems.
CIMA Research Foundation also collaborates in the technical management of the Mount Settepani weather radar, whose data prove to be crucial for monitoring precipitation events. Information obtained through radar is useful in short-term precipitation forecasting (nowcasting) models and for assimilation into weather models. CIMA Research Foundation is also involved in analyzing events that have occurred in the past for knowledge aimed at improving the predictability of future events; it also plays a regulatory-legislative support role towards the Liguria Region on Civil Protection issues.