The project 4DMED-Hydrology, officially starts on November, 23rd with the related kick off meeting.

The Mediterranean region (MR) includes the largest semi-enclosed sea on Earth and is an area of both exceptional biodiversity value and intense and increasing human activities. MR has a unique character as it is located in a transition zone between temperate, cold mild-latitudes and the tropics with several large-scale atmospheric oscillations/teleconnection patterns. This determines a high temporal variability of climate which causes periods of excess water with widespread floods followed by long drought episodes and heat waves, making the region highly vulnerable to hydrological extremes. Therefore, resolving the water cycle over the MR is central for protecting people and guaranteeing water and food security.

The ESA project “4DMED-Hydrology” aims at developing an advanced, high-resolution, and consistent reconstruction of the Mediterranean terrestrial water cycle by using the latest developments of Earth Observation (EO) data as those derived from the ESA-Copernicus missions. In particular, by exploiting previous ESA initiatives, 4DMED-Hydrology intends 1) to demonstrate how this EO capacity can help to describe the interactions between complex hydrological processes and anthropogenic pressure (often difficult to model) in synergy with model-based approaches; 2) to exploit synergies among EO data to maximize the retrieval of information of the different water cycle components (i.e., precipitation, soil moisture, evaporation, runoff, river discharge) to provide an accurate representation of our environment and advanced fit-for-purpose decision support systems in a changing climate for a more resilient society.

More informations about the project can be found here below.