A research developed by the Universitat de València on the evolution of torrential rain in the Valencian territory, conducted by professor Maria José Estrela, from the Faculty of Geography and History, has received the Fontseré International Prize of Meteorology, given by the Catalan Association of Meteorology (ACAM).
The award has valued the quality of the modelling of torrential rainfalls and, specially, of the effect of the sea temperature and the areas of humidity recharge, because these models might be applicable to other areas of the Western Mediterranean. The study was developed by Francisco Pastor, José Antonio Valiente and María José Estrela from the Mixed Research Unit of the Universitat de València and the Mediterranean Centre for Environmental Studies (CEAM) and it revealed the existence of patterns of spatial distribution of the sea temperature in the Mediterranean. They identified areas with very different characteristics in summer and autumn while in winter the distribution of the sea temperature showed a clear north-south arrangement.
The research -which conclusions were published in ‘Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences’- highlighted the key role of superficial sea temperature in the development of torrential rains in the Valencian Country and the Western Mediterranean areas that act as energy and humidity sources were determined. These are responsible of causing instability in the air mass barely before it arrives at the autonomic territory and generating the rain episodes.
“The area of the sea with more influence in the torrential rainfalls is that comprised between the Valencian Country and the Balearic Islands, although the contributions of the area between the Balearic Islands and Corsica, the south of the Tyrrhenian Sea and, depending on the trajectory of the air mass, the Gulf of Tunis are also important”, explains the research director, María José Estrela.
This work is especially interesting because it presents a new modelling strategy to evaluate the impact of torrential rain of the different Mediterranean areas. In this new approach, according to professor Estrela, “the values of the sea temperature were modified in the areas of hypothetical humidity recharge to quantify their contribution. In the different numeric models, the different contributions to the humidity flows that fed the rainfalls in our territory became evident.
The CEAM researcher Francisco Pastor considers that the study can also “provide important improvements for the forecast of extreme meteorological episodes, which will predictably be more frequent, according to the previsions of the IPCC of the United Nations. Thus, science “favours the reduction and control of the economic and human losses which happen every year in the Mediterranean countries and, specially, in territories like the Valencian Country” said Pastor.
Maria José Estrela is PhD in Physic Geography, Geography professor at the Universitat de València and accredited for the Full University Professoriate of the Universitat. She is the president of the Spanish Association of Climatology and scientific secretary of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP Spanish Committee). Her activity as researcher is focused in the field of climatology, climatic risks and the impact of climate change in the Western Mediterranean Basin. Estrela has participated in more than 29 research projects, at national level but also at European level, and has more than 90 publications in the field of climatology.
More information:
Pastor, F., Valiente, J. A. and Estrela, M. J.: ‘Sea surface temperature and torrential rains in the Valencia region: modelling the role of recharge areas’, ‘Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.’, 15, 1677-1693, doi:10.5194/nhess-15-1677-2015, 2015.
Last update: 30 de november de 2015 07:00.
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