A PROOF-OF-CONCEPT FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A EUROPEAN COPERNICUS COASTAL FLOOD AWARENESS SYSTEM

The increasing number of tools and algorithms able to process and extract qualitative and quantitative information from Earth Observation products has an enormous potential to support the evaluation of weather-induced climate risks.

The ECFAS project will contribute to the evolution of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service by demonstrating the technical and operational feasibility of a European Coastal Flood Awareness System.

ECFAS will provide a proof-of-concept that will complement and broaden the currently available panoply of core service information. ECFAS will evaluate coastal flood risk contributing to a fully integrated risk cycle monitoring service.

ECFAS will implement an awareness system for coastal areas (preparedness phase) and impact assessment products (response phase), fundamental for effective recovery and prevention actions.

Following the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, the avoidance of duplication, and the facilitation of user uptake, ECFAS will capitalise from the product portfolio of CEMS, CMEMS and CLMS, publicly available datasets and information derived from relevant EU projects.

Marine forcing forecasts will be improved through the integration of available models in order to reduce uncertainties and provide reliable coastal flood maps.

Hazard and impact assessments will be carried out taking into account the existing CEMS framework and adding the impact on low-lying areas, that represents a set of added value mapping products.

The technical operational feasibility of the products will be demonstrated through a performance assessment of the service in selected test cases for past-events, as well as in forecasting mode.

The integration of data from different sources will require increased computer resources, supporting the concept of using DIAS as core processing service.

The availability and accessibility of generated data and derived products will stimulate their exploitation by users of the Emergency Service and beyond