Flash Floods are one of the most damaging and costly natural hazards in Europe and the Mediterranean region. A new European Union FP6 project titled FLASH will run from 2006-2009 in an attempt to improve our knowledge of flash floods in the Mediterranean region, using lightning data. Since lightning activity is often related to heavy precipitation, and can be detected and monitored continuously from great distances, this new EU project will use lightning data from the Greek ZEUS network, to better detect and track the location, intensity and timing of heavy convective precipitation events across the Mediterranean region and Europe. The project will integrate other experimental data sets (satellite rainfall estimates, radar and rain gauges rainfall amounts, hydrological streamflow data, damages, etc.) as well as modeling studies (cloud, mesoscale and hydrological models) to better understand how lightning can improve our knowledge of these damaging storms, while helping to better forecast them in the future. We plan to develop algorithms to provide on-line nowcasts and forecasts of areas at high-risk of heavy precipitation and flooding across the Mediterranean. Our experimental products will be provided to end-users and stakeholders for use in their planning activities. The societal benefits of such advanced warnings will be investigated, especially in relation to risk management. This project also involves an outreach and educational aspect where we plan to develop web-modules related to flash floods for school children and the general public. See http://www.flash-eu.tau.ac.il/
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