A methodology for the classification of convective structures using meteorological radar: Application to heavy rainfall events on the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula

Rigo, Tomeu; Llasat, M. C.

doi:10.5194/nhess-4-59-2004

Cited by 85 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…This kind of event requires convective instability with abundant feeding of warm and wet air from low levels, and a mechanism to force air ascent to release the potential instability or to destabilise the air column. Convective rainfall is generally produced by "multicells" or "mesoscale convective systems" (Rigo and Llasat, 2004). It is possible to distinguish between two subclasses: i) Type 2a lasts less than 24 h and the maximum precipitation is usually recorded in less than 6 h, with accumulated rainfall of nearly 200 mm.…”

Section: Classification Of Floodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They are "strongly convective events" for which more than 75% of the accumulated rainfall has an intensity of above 35 mm/h (Llasat, 2001). This kind of event requires considerable local atmospheric instability, and is usually produced by "isolated cells" or "multicells" of limited horizontal extension (Rigo and Llasat, 2004) that can produce thunderstorms. Despite their limited extension, they usually develop into an unstable environment that can produce rainfall, strong wind or hail in other zones of Catalonia.…”

Section: Classification Of Floodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Estimation of extreme flash flood evolution in Barcelona County from 1351 to 2005

Barrera

Llasat

Barriendos

2006

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. Every year, flash floods cause economic losses and major problems for undertaking daily activity in the Catalonia region (NE Spain). Sometimes catastrophic damage and casualties occur. When a long term analysis of floods is undertaken, a question arises regarding the changing role of the vulnerability and the hazard in risk evolution. This paper sets out to give some information to deal with this question, on the basis of analysis of all the floods that have occurred in Barcelona county (Catalonia) since the 14th century, as well as the flooded area, urban evolution, impacts and the weather conditions for any of most severe events. With this objective, the identification and classification of historical floods, and characterisation of flash-floods among these, have been undertaken. Besides this, the main meteorological factors associated with recent flash floods in this city and neighbouring regions are well-known. On the other hand, the identification of rainfall trends that could explain the historical evolution of flood hazard occurrence in this city has been analysed. Finally, identification of the influence of urban development on the vulnerability to floods has been carried out. Barcelona city has been selected thanks to its long continuous data series (daily rainfall data series, since 1854; one of the longest rainfall rate series of Europe, since 1921) and for the accurate historical archive information that is available (since the Roman Empire for the urban evolution). The evolution of flood occurrence shows the existence of oscillations in the earlier and later modern-age periods that can be attributed to climatic variability, evolution of the perception threshold and changes in vulnerability. A great increase of vulnerability can be assumed for the period 1850-1900. The analysis of the time evolution for the Barcelona rainfall series shows that no trend exists, although, due to changes in urban planning, flash-floods impact has altered over this time. The number of catastrophic flash floods has diminished, although the extraordinary ones have increased.

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Section: Classification Of Floodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Classification Of Floodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of extreme flash flood evolution in Barcelona County from 1351 to 2005

Barrera

Llasat

Barriendos

2006

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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“…Convective features of the rainfall field at surface have also been taken into account by using the β parameter, defined as the ratio between convective precipitation and total precipitation (Llasat, 2001;Llasat et al, 2007). The type of precipitation structures is also considered in the classification (Rigo and Llasat, 2004;Doswell et al, 1996) -Type 1: Short-lived events of very intense precipitation but for which the total amount of rainfall is not usually very high. They are strongly convective events caused by isolated cells or multicells with a limited horizontal extension.…”

Section: Types Of Floods and Historical Flood Classificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flash-floods in Catalonia: the social perception in a context of changing vulnerability

Llasat

López²,

Barnolas

et al. 2008

Adv. Geosci.

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Abstract. In assessing a flood event two risk components need to be considered: the intrinsic hazard of the hydrometeorological event causing the flood and the vulnerability of the area where the precipitation has been registered. In the present study four flood events selected by the FLASH European project have been classified according to the characteristics of the meteorological event (classification according to hazard) and according to the physical and economic damages caused (classification according to vulnerability). The social impact of these events is analysed taking into account the growth of the population. An increase in the number of extraordinary flash-floods was detected in the areas with a major growth of the population, as a consequence of an increased vulnerability of these areas, both from a physical perspective (exposure of infrastructures) and from an economic perspective (more goods exposed). In addition, the numerous non-native inhabitants of the region are not aware of the meteorological risks characteristic of the area, and this contributes to increased social vulnerability.

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“…Considering the organization and internal dynamics of thunderstorms, based in radar data, they can be classified as (Doswell et al, 1996;Rigo and Llasat, 2004): isolated cell (one unique reflectivity core), multicellular (different cells simultaneous or not), or supercell (one unique but stronger than the isolated cell exhibiting a rotating mesocyclone).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of warm season thunderstorms using an object-oriented tracking method based on radar and total lightning data

Rigo

Pineda

Bech

2010

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract.Monitoring thunderstorms activity is an essential part of operational weather surveillance given their potential hazards, including lightning, hail, heavy rainfall, strong winds or even tornadoes. This study has two main objectives: firstly, the description of a methodology, based on radar and total lightning data to characterise thunderstorms in real-time; secondly, the application of this methodology to 66 thunderstorms that affected Catalonia (NE Spain) in the summer of 2006. An object-oriented tracking procedure is employed, where different observation data types generate four different types of objects (radar 1-km CAPPI reflectivity composites, radar reflectivity volumetric data, cloud-toground lightning data and intra-cloud lightning data). In the framework proposed, these objects are the building blocks of a higher level object, the thunderstorm.The methodology is demonstrated with a dataset of thunderstorms whose main characteristics, along the complete life cycle of the convective structures (development, maturity and dissipation), are described statistically. The development and dissipation stages present similar durations in most cases examined. On the contrary, the duration of the maturity phase is much more variable and related to the thunderstorm intensity, defined here in terms of lightning flash rate. Most of the activity of IC and CG flashes is registered in the maturity stage. In the development stage little CG flashes are observed (2% to 5%), while for the dissipation phase is possible to observe a few more CG flashes (10% to 15%). Additionally, a selection of thunderstorms is used to examine general life cycle patterns, obtained from the analysis of normalized (with respect to thunderstorm total duration and maximum value Correspondence to: T. Rigo (tomeur@meteo.cat) of variables considered) thunderstorm parameters. Among other findings, the study indicates that the normalized duration of the three stages of thunderstorm life cycle is similar in most thunderstorms, with the longest duration corresponding to the maturity stage (approximately 80% of the total time).

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A methodology for the classification of convective structures using meteorological radar: Application to heavy rainfall events on the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula

Cited by 85 publications

References 12 publications

Estimation of extreme flash flood evolution in Barcelona County from 1351 to 2005

Estimation of extreme flash flood evolution in Barcelona County from 1351 to 2005

Flash-floods in Catalonia: the social perception in a context of changing vulnerability

Analysis of warm season thunderstorms using an object-oriented tracking method based on radar and total lightning data

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