From 27 April to 2 May, the CENTAUR Horizon Europe project was represented at the 2025 European Geophysical Union (EGU) General Assembly in Vienna. Two consortium partners, Ithaca and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), participated in the event and presented recent work and developments related to the project.
Ithaca colleagues, Burcu Koçoğlu and Matilde Oliveti, participated in the poster sessions with a contribution titled “A new set of Copernicus early warning and emergency services to improve the response to the challenges of climate change.” It focused on the Italian use case in the Piedmont region, in areas which are particularly prone to flooding. It showcased the use of high-resolution datasets and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) scans to support advanced 3D modelling, aimed at improving flood forecasts and impact assessments.
Ithaca colleagues, Matilde Oliveti (left) and Burcu Koçoğlu (right), presenting the poster “A new set of Copernicus early warning and emergency services to improve the response to the challenges of climate change” at EGU 2025
In addition, ECMWF participated in the session “Interdisciplinary approaches to addressing climate risks associated with weather extremes.” Francesca Di Giuseppe presented the development of a new forecast and early warning index for extreme precipitation, which was developed as part of the CENTAUR project. This index predicts the likelihood of extreme precipitation events and enables reliable and actionable warnings for localised flooding events. t
Using the October 2024 flooding event in Valencia (recently added as a CENTAUR cold-hot case) as an example, the presentation demonstrated the added value of the warning index over other forecast products. An evaluation of 30 flood-related activations from the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) On-Demand Mapping in 2024 showed that the index provides reliable and actionable warnings for both pluvial and urban flooding. These results represent a significant step forward in supporting risk management and improving preparedness for extreme precipitation under climate change.
Francesca Di Giuseppe (ECMWF) presenting in the session “Interdisciplinary approaches to addressing climate risks associated with weather extremes” at EGU 2025.
CENTAUR’s participation at EGU 2025 provided an excellent opportunity to share scientific progress, engage with other Horizon Europe projects, and contribute to ongoing discussions on climate resilience and disaster risk reduction.
Find the poster “A new set of Copernicus early warning and emergency services to improve the response to the challenges of climate change” here.
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