HyMeX-SOP1: The Field Campaign Dedicated to Heavy Precipitation and Flash Flooding in the Northwestern Mediterranean

Véronique Ducrocq (1) , Isabelle Braud (2) , Silvio Davolio (3) , Rossella Ferretti (4) , Cyrille Flamant (5) , Agustin Jansa (6) , Norbert Kalthoff (7) , Evelyne Richard (8) , Isabelle Taupier-Letage (9) , Pierre-Alain Ayral (10) , Sophie Belamari (1) , Alexis Berne (11) , Marco Borga (12) , Brice Boudevillain (13) , Olivier Bock (14) , Jean-Luc Boichard (15) , Marie-Noëlle Bouin (1) , Olivier Bousquet (1, 16) , Christophe Bouvier (17) , Jacopo Chiggiato (18) , Domenico Cimini (19) , Ulrich Corsmeier (7) , Laurent Coppola (20) , Philippe Cocquerez (21) , Eric Defer (22) , Julien Delanoë (5) , Paolo Di Girolamo (23) , Alexis Doerenbecher (1) , Philippe Drobinski (24) , Yann Dufournet (25) , Nadia Fourrié (1) , Jonathan J. Gourley (26, 27) , Laurent Labatut (1) , Dominique Lambert (8) , Jérôme Le Coz (2) , Frank S. Marzano (4) , Gilles Molinié (13) , Andrea Montani (28) , Guillaume Nord (13) , Mathieu Nuret (1) , Karim Ramage (29) , Bill Rison , Odile Roussot (1) , Frédérique Saïd (8) , Alfons Schwarzenboeck (30) , Pierre Testor (31) , Joël van Baelen (30) , Béatrice Vincendon (1) , Montserrat Aran (32) , Jorge Tamayo (6)

1 CNRM - Centre national de recherches météorologiques
2 UR HHLY - Hydrologie-Hydraulique
3 ISAC - Istituto di Scienze dell'Atmosfera e del Clima
4 Centre of Excellence CETEMPS
5 SPACE - LATMOS
6 AEMet - Agencia Estatal de Meteorología
7 IMK - Institute for Meteorology and Climate Research
8 LAERO - Laboratoire d'aérologie
9 MIO - Institut méditerranéen d'océanologie
10 LGEI - Laboratoire de Génie de l'Environnement Industriel
11 EPFL - Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
12 Unipd - Università degli Studi di Padova = University of Padua
13 LTHE - Laboratoire d'étude des transferts en hydrologie et environnement
14 LAREG - LAboratoire de REcherche en Géodésie [Paris]
15 UMS 831 - Services communs OMP
16 LACy - Laboratoire de l'Atmosphère et des Cyclones
17 HSM - Hydrosciences Montpellier
18 ISMAR - Istituto di Science Marine
19 IMAA - Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis of the National Research Council [Italy]
20 OOVM - Observatoire océanologique de Villefranche-sur-mer
21 CNES - Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse]
22 LERMA - Laboratoire d'Etude du Rayonnement et de la Matière en Astrophysique
23 Difa - Dipartimento di Ingegneria e Fisica dell'Ambiente [Potenza]
24 LMD - Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (UMR 8539)
25 TU Delft - Delft University of Technology
26 NSSL - National Severe Storms Laboratory
27 CIMMS - Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies
28 ARPA-SIM
29 IPSL - Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace
30 LaMP - Laboratoire de météorologie physique
31 VOG - Variabilité de l'Océan et de la Glace de mer
32 SMC - Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya

The Mediterranean region is frequently affected by heavy precipitation events associated with flash floods, landslides, and mudslides that cause hundreds of millions of euros in damages per year and often, casualties. A major field campaign was devoted to heavy precipitation and flash floods from 5 September to 6 November 2012 within the framework of the 10-year international HyMeX (Hydrological cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment) dedicated to the hydrological cycle and related high-impact events. The 2- month field campaign took place over the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea and its surrounding coastal regions in France, Italy, and Spain. The observation strategy of the field experiment was devised to improve our knowledge on the following key components leading to heavy precipitation and flash flooding in the region: i) the marine atmospheric flows that transport moist and conditionally unstable air towards the coasts; ii) the Mediterranean Sea acting as a moisture and energy source; iii) the dynamics and microphysics of the convective systems producing heavy precipitation; iv) the hydrological processes during flash floods. This article provides the rationale for developing this first HyMeX field experiment and an overview of its design and execution. Highlights of some Intense Observation Periods illustrate the potential of the unique datasets collected for process understanding, model improvement and data assimilation.

Domaines: Physique Atmosphérique et Océanique [physics.ao-ph]; Hydrologie; Météorologie

Véronique Ducrocq, Isabelle Braud, Silvio Davolio, Rossella Ferretti, Cyrille Flamant, et al.. HyMeX-SOP1: The Field Campaign Dedicated to Heavy Precipitation and Flash Flooding in the Northwestern Mediterranean. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 2014, 95 (7), pp.1083-1100. ⟨10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00244.1⟩. ⟨hal-00907518⟩