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UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST
FACULTY OF PHYSICS Guest
2024-11-22 1:25 |
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Conference: Bucharest University Faculty of Physics 2018 Meeting
Section: Atmosphere and Earth Science; Environment Protection
Title:
Tornadoes in Europe
Authors:
Bogdan ANTONESCU(1)
Affiliation:
1) Remote Sensing Department, National Institute of Research and Development for Optoelectronics, 409 Atomistilor Str., Magurele, Ilfov, Romania
E-mail
bogdan.antonescu@inoe.ro
Keywords:
tornado, climatology, impact, risk
Abstract:
Between 2014 and 2017, the University of Manchester (United Kingdom) hosted a research programme on tornadoes in Europe. The aim of this talk is to show the main results of this programme. First, a synthesis of tornado observations across Europe between 1800 and 2014 was developed using regional tornado-occurrence datasets and articles published in peer-reviewed journals. This synthesis was then used to produce a pan-European climatology. Thus, between 1800 and 2014, 9563 tornadoes were reported in Europe with the majority of the reports coming from northern, western, and southern Europe. Second, the social and economic impact of tornadoes in Europe was analyzed and was shown that the threat of tornadoes in Europe is not widely recognized. To increase awareness of tornadoes and their threat to Europe, a strategy was proposed that included 1) collaboration between meteorological services, researchers, and the general public toward a pan-European database; 2) development of national forecasting and warning systems and of pan-European convective outlooks; and 3) development by decision-makers and emergency managers of policies and strategies that include tornadoes. Third, to better understand the impact of European tornadoes and how this impact changed over time, a high-impact tornado outbreak (i.e., 232 injuries and 15 fatalities) that occurred on 24-25 June 1967 in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands was analyzed. Transposing the tornado tracks from the June 1967 outbreak over the modern landscape resulted in a substantial increase in the number buildings being impacted (i.e., from 960 building in 1967 to 24990 in 2017) and a ten-times increase in the number of injuries and fatalities. The results from this research programme indicate that the current disaster management policies and mitigation strategies for Europe need to include tornadoes, especially because exposure and tornado risk is anticipated to increase in the near future.
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