The role of citizen science to assess the spatiotemporal pattern of rainfall events in urban areas: a case study in the city of Genoa, Italy

Abstract

Abstract. Climate change in the Mediterranean region is evidenced by an increase in average air temperature and a variation in rainfall regime: the value of cumulated annual rainfall seems to be basically constant, however, rainfall of maximum intensity and short duration, between 1 and 24 hours, is increasing, especially in the period between late summer and early autumn. The associated ground effects in urban areas consist of flash floods and pluvial floods, often in very small areas, depending on the physical-geographical layout of the region. In the context of global warming, it follows that it is important to have an adequate monitoring network for these rain events, which are highly concentrated in space and time. This research analyzes the meteo-hydrological features of August 27th and 28th 2023 event that occurred in Genoa, just 4 days after the record maximum air temperature recorded: between 19 UTC and 02 UTC nearly 400 mm of rainfall was recorded in the eastern sector of Genoa’s historic center, with significant ground effects such as flooding and overflowing in pressurized culverted waterways. Rainfall observations and estimates were taken using both official or “authoritative” networks (rain gauges and meteorological radar) as well as rain gauge networks inspired by citizen science principles. The combined analysis of the observations by authoritative and "citizen science" networks highlights, for the analyzed event, a spatial variability of the precipitation field for the hourly and sub-hourly duration, which cannot be captured by the current spatial density of the authoritative measurement stations (which it is also among the highest in Italy). Monthly total rainfalls and maximum intensity and short duration annual maxima time series recorded by the authoritative rain gauge network of the Genoa area are then analyzed. Results show that at distances even less than 2 km the variations in average rainfall depth cumulated over sub-hourly duration are very significant. Thus, extreme weather monitoring activity is confirmed as one of the most important aspects in terms of flood prevention and protection in urban areas. The integration between authoritative and citizen science networks can prove to be a valid contribution for monitoring this type of extreme events.