european weather Extremes: DrIvers, Predictability and Impacts

ended

EDIPI (european weather Extremes: DrIvers, Predictability and Impacts) aims to further our holistic understanding of the dynamics, predictability and impacts of temperature, precipitation (including drought) and surface wind extremes over Europe. The three overarching scientific questions we will tackle are: Why does a specific type of weather extreme occur? How can we use this knowledge to better predict it? And finally, what are the likely impacts once it does occur? Excellence in science will be achieved by a truly interdisciplinary approach. EDIPI will combine climate science, statistical mechanics, dynamical systems theory, risk management, agronomy, epidemiology and more to open unexplored avenues in the study of European weather extremes. Examples include the use of concepts from statistical mechanics to generate large datasets of simulated extreme winter storms, or of data from social networks to forecast temperature-attributable mortality. Excellence in training will be expressed by creating a cohort of weather extremes experts, who combine a physical understanding of high-impact weather extremes with a practical knowledge of predictability tools and an appreciation of user-relevant information required by the private sector. EDIPI will further place great emphasis on soft and transferrable skills, such as scientific programming, IPR, communication and stakeholder engagement, and on open science in accordance with the FAIR principle. EDIPI’s scientific and training philosophy will ease the development of the project’s findings into products and services and provide a key contribution to enhancing European innovation capacity. It will further prepare the project’s ESRs for a broad range of careers, from academia to the private sector (e.g. insurers, risk managers, catastrophe modellers, financial institutions dealing with weather derivatives) to public bodies (e.g. national weather services, public health agencies, civil protection services).