Natural Hazards―Lessons from The Past and Contemporary Challenges

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Biometeorology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2019) | Viewed by 6984

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
1. Environmental Meteorology, University of Freiburg, D-79085 Freiburg, Germany
2. Research Centre Human Biometeorology, Deutscher Wetterdienst, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany
Interests: human biometeorology; urban bioclimatology; climate and tourism; climate impact research
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel management, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovića 3, Novi Sad 21000, Serbia
Interests: rainfall erosivity; aridity; mass movement wet hazards; landslide hazard; precipitation; rainfall density extreme precipitation indices; PCI; MFI; SPEI; SPI
Department of Geography, Tourism and Hotel management, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovića 3, Novi Sad 21000, Serbia
Interests: bioclimatic indices; Climate change indices; PET; UTCI; extreme bioclimate conditions; extreme weather events; hydrometeorological events
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

During recent decades, extreme weather and climate events have been a major concern and have the potential to have a highly destructive impact on society and ecosystems. The focus of this Special Issue will be put on meteorological and climate-related hazards that have a profound impact on the environment, society, and human health. Since the relationship of human beings to the thermal environment is very complex, this requires a more comprehensive consideration, especially during extreme weather events.

According to the simulations from the IPCC report (2013), air temperature will continue to rise throughout the 21st century. The extreme weather events (heat and cold waves, droughts, extreme precipitation, and extremely wet periods) are being studied using different indices that can be compared worldwide. Furthermore, extreme weather events are studied by using biometeorological indices that take into account not only air temperature but also other meteorological parameters such as atmospheric moisture, wind, cloud cover, and solar irradiance, as well as the energy balance of human beings.

On the other hand, precipitation is one of the most important natural factors responsible for soil erosion in the landslide context. Rainfall is one the main drivers of soil erosion. The erosive force of rainfall is expressed as rainfall erosivity. Soil erosion is among the eight soil threats listed within the Soil Thematic Strategy of the European Commission (EC, 2006). During the past decade, the problem of soil erosion has become part of the environmental agenda in the European Union (EU) and other countries due to its effects on food production, drinking water quality, ecosystem services, mud floods, eutrophication, biodiversity, and carbon stock shrinkage. Many studies point out that prolonged periods of extreme weather events could be responsible for the erosivity process, thus highlighting the necessity for its thorough investigation.

This Special Issue will be focused on research associated with the natural hazards—lessons from the past and contemporary challenges—international scientific conference, held in Novi Sad, Serbia from 5–7.10.2018 organized by the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts (Branch in Novi Sad) and Department of Geography, Tourism, and Hotel Management; Faculty of Sciences; University of Novi Sad. The objective of the meeting was to bring together researchers to exchange experiences on the given topic.

Prof. Andreas Matzarakis
Dr. Biljana Basarin
Dr. Tin Lukić
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Climatological hazards
  • Meteorological and biometeorological hazards
  • Extreme weather events
  • Rainfall erosivity
  • Drought
  • Aridity
  • Hydrometeorological events

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 3513 KiB  
Article
GIS Application for Determining Geographical Factors on Intensity of Erosion in Serbian River Basins. Case Study: The River Basin of Likodra
by Branko Ristanović, Marija Cimbaljević, Đurđa Miljković, Miloš Ostojić and Renata Fekete
Atmosphere 2019, 10(9), 526; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10090526 - 06 Sep 2019
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3140
Abstract
Inadequate management of water resources may generate various potential geohazard risks. To resolve potential risks, significant anthropogenic factors need to be engaged, such as human, material and financialcapacities. Fluvial erosion and soil erosion control are among the major problems that occur within an [...] Read more.
Inadequate management of water resources may generate various potential geohazard risks. To resolve potential risks, significant anthropogenic factors need to be engaged, such as human, material and financialcapacities. Fluvial erosion and soil erosion control are among the major problems that occur within an integrated water management system. These natural processes can be accelerated due to certain human activities: agricultural production, civil engineering and mining. Is there a comprehensive approach that would identify the problems at the early stages and minimize the necessary actions? The application of the geographic information system (GIS) within the modified Gavrilović model represents a step further towards systematic monitoring and regulation of watercourses in different parts of the basin. This case study provides an example of the early detection of hydrological problems that can occur in a river stream and a proposal for the solutions that would be imposed as the logical causality based key. The Likodra river basin is a representative example of the application of GIS for early detection and prevention of current water problems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Hazards―Lessons from The Past and Contemporary Challenges)
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19 pages, 5767 KiB  
Article
A New Approach for Generating Human Biometeorological Information Based on Gridded High-Resolution Data (Basic Data of Test-Reference-Years)
by Irmela C. Schlegel and Andreas Matzarakis
Atmosphere 2019, 10(6), 334; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10060334 - 19 Jun 2019
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2946
Abstract
The assessment of human-biometeorological information requires appropriate preparation of data and suitable visualisation of results. Human-biometeorological information can be valuable for tourists and visitors, but also for citizens looking for information about their neighbourhood or a new residence. Cities or health resorts can [...] Read more.
The assessment of human-biometeorological information requires appropriate preparation of data and suitable visualisation of results. Human-biometeorological information can be valuable for tourists and visitors, but also for citizens looking for information about their neighbourhood or a new residence. Cities or health resorts can also promote their climate conditions for health rehabilitation. To derive this human-biometeorological information in a unified, comprehensive, and comprehensible form, a tool was developed. The input information contains the coordinates of a place and/or area of interest, and the time period of data chosen by the user. For meteorological data, the basic dataset of Test-Reference-Years from the German Meteorological Service is used, containing hourly meteorological data for the time period from 1995 to 2012, covering Germany with a spatial resolution of 1 km². Based on the Perceived Temperature as a thermal index, days with heat stress and cold stimulus are identified. In this process, the effects of short-term human acclimatisation on the thermal environment are considered by using a variable threshold value based on the thermal conditions of the last 30 days. The results of the tool’s application consist of several frequency diagrams, the Climate-Tourism/Transfer-Information-Scheme, a diagram of heat waves, and maps of the area of interest, displaying the spatial distribution of heat stress and cold stimulus. As an example, the (bio-)meteorological conditions of the region of southern Baden around Freiburg and the Black Forest, including the health resort, Hinterzarten, are analysed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Hazards―Lessons from The Past and Contemporary Challenges)
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