Céline Lutoff

HYMEX , a 10-year Multidisciplinary Program on the mediterranean water cycle.

The Mediterranean countries are experiencing important challenges related to the water cycle, including water shortages and floods, extreme winds, and ice/snow storms, that impact critically the socioeconomic vitality in the area (causing damage to property, threatening lives, affecting the energy and transportation sectors, etc.). There are gaps in our understanding of the Mediterranean water cycle and its dynamics that include the variability of the Mediterranean Sea water budget and its feedback on the variability of the continental precipitation through air–sea interactions, the impact of precipitation variability on aquifer recharge, river discharge, and soil water content and vegetation characteristics specific to the Mediterranean basin and the mechanisms that control the location and intensity of heavy precipitating systems that often produce floods. The Hydrological Cycle in Mediterranean Experiment (HyMeX) program is a 10-yr concerted experimental effort at the international level that aims to advance the scientific knowledge of the water cycle variability in all compartments (land, sea, and atmosphere) and at various time and spatial scales. It also aims to improve the processes-based models needed for forecasting hydrometeorological extremes and the models of the regional climate system for predicting regional climate variability and evolution. Finally, it aims to assess the social and economic vulnerability to hydrometeorological natural hazards in the Mediterranean and the adaptation capacity of the territories and populations therein to provide support to policy makers to cope with water-related problems under the influence of climate change, by linking scientific outcomes with related policy requirements.

Toward a space-time framework for integrated water and society studies

AFFILIATIONS: RuIn, CReton-Cazanave, anquetIn, and CReutIn—cnrS/uJF-grenoble 1/g-inp/ird, Laboratoire d’etude des Transferts en Hydrologie et environnement, LTHe, grenoble, France; Lutoff and ChaRdonneL—pacTe, universite Joseph Fourier, grenoble, France; boRga—department of Land, environment, agriculture and Forestry, university of padova, Legnaro, italy; gouRLey—noaa/national Severe Storms Laboratory, norman, oklahoma; gRuntfeSt—Social Science woven into meteorology, university of colorado, colorado Springs, colorado; noRbeRt—department of geography, king’s college London, London, united kingdom; thIeLen— Joint research center, ispra, italy CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: marco Borga, department of Land, environment, agriculture and Forestry, university of padova, campus agripolis, Viale dell’universita 16, 35020 Legnaro pd, italy e-mail: marco.borga@unipd.it

Mobility Exposure Scales of Analysis in the Face of Flash Floods

Abstract: As indicated in the Preface, the question of scales is essential to the articulation between water mobility and the mobility of individuals. The hypothesis of this book is that this notion contributes to understanding the emergence of critical situations with a hydrometeorological origin. Thus, we have explored several bibliographical references, which have furnished our reflection on the role of scales in the development process of the hydrometeorological event. First, we worked with articles from Holling and Cash et al., resolutely oriented toward the interactions between environment and society. Then, we sought to deepen the way in which this notion is involved in the analysis of purely social phenomena, more specifically in sociology, by focusing on Grossetti’s article.

18 – Anticipating or Coping: Behaviors in the Face of Flash Floods

Abstract: In the wake of the flash floods that hit the state of Colorado in 2013 and the Cote d’Azur in the autumn of 2015, the newspapers highlighted the “stupidity” or “irrationality” of individuals during such events, concluding that many deaths could have been avoided if the victims had behaved more sensibly. For example, on September 19 2013, the local daily newspaper “Aurora Sentinel” of the third largest city in the state of Colorado (United States) ran the headline “Flood drivers throw doubt on intelligent life in Aurora”. The article then emphasized the idiotic behavior of drivers who, in the midst of a torrential downpour, when the city was mostly flooded, deliberately drove their vehicles through large expanses of water. The author of the article, who had witnessed this behavior, made it clear that he didn’t think the problem lay in the perception or underestimation of the water level on the roads. He described recurring scenes where drivers of small or large vehicles waited their turn to cross flooded areas or areas with major run-off, watching the cars before them sink into the water up to wheel height and get stuck or, even worse, swept away by the current. The most interesting thing about this online article was the responses and comments posted by readers, which revealed some of the reasons for the drivers’ reactions. These reasons were far from irrational. Above all, they show to what extent behavior during an emergency is determined by everyday priorities. Indeed, many eyewitness accounts indicate that the need to get to work or take children to school is very important, with several people noting that schools and companies did not close and even that some employers (including the federal government) expressly told their employees to try to get to work, even though the safety advice was not to drive.