DEUCALION
| Project name: | DEUCALION- Determining and Visualizing Impacts of Greenhouse Climate Rainfall in Alpine Watersheds on Torrential Disasters | ||
| Project leader: | Roland Kaitna (Co-ordinator, Institute of Mountain Risk Engineering, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna) Andreas Gobiet (Wegener Center, ReLoClim-Researchgroup, University of Graz) | ||
| Project team: | Andreas Gobiet (Senior Post-Doc: project lead ReLoClim, regional climate scenarios) Matthias Themeßl (Post-Doc: staitsical downscaling and error correction of RCMs) Satyanarayana Tani (PhD-Student: datamanagement, enhancement of methods for empirical statistical downacling and error correction for extremes) Thomas Mendlik (PhD-Student: empirical statistical downscaling and error correction, model selection) | ||
| Partners: | Franz Sinabell, Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO), Vienna Markus Stoffel, Laboratory of Dendrogeomorphology (Dendrolab), University of Berne | ||
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| Duration: | Jan. 2011 - Feb. 2014 |
Abstract:
Torrential processes like debris flows and debris floods represent a serious hazard in Alpine regions. Changing climatic conditions are likely to have direct and potentially drastic impacts on the frequency and ensuing magnitude of torrential disasters. One of the primary pre-conditions for a realistic determination of potential future hazards is a solid and as complete as possible time series on past and contemporary events. Based on retrospective analyses and predictions of changes of disposition and triggering conditions we aim to assess magnitude and frequency of potential future torrential disasters for three different watersheds in Austria. Scenario-defined hazard maps will be derived and the associated risks assessed. The results will help engineers and decision makers in the prevention of future disasters, their mitigation as well as for adaptation purposes.
