Projects

 

Main projects undertaken in the past recent years or still on going:

 

  • 2020 project ECFAS - A PROOF-OF-CONCEPT FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A EUROPEAN COPERNICUS COASTAL FLOOD AWARENESS SYSTEM, the project aims to improve the Copernicus Emergency Management Service by demonstrating the technical and operational feasibility of a European Coastal Flood Awareness System. The objectives include a fully integrated risk cycle monitoring service, through the implementation of an awareness system specifically targeted to coastal areas (preparedness phase) and impact assessment (response phase) in the aftermath of a flood event, playing a fundamental role for the implementation of effective recovery and prevention actions; furthermore, to improve marine forcing hindcasting and forecasting through the integration of existing data and models of CMEMS and comparison with the ANYEU-SSL model developed in the EU H2020 ANYWHERE project and identify marine forcing thresholds able to trigger coastal flooding. Finally, to use state-of-the-art algorithms to automatically detect shoreline position through the use of satellite images.
  • EnhANcing emergencY management and response to extreme WeatHER and climate Events (ANYWHERE), the project wants to develop tools to support realtime coordination of the emergency response operations to face challenge of the extreme weather and climate events. The objectives are: employ the cutting edge innovative technologies to build a pan-europeans multi-hazard platform for faster analysis and anticipation of the risk prior the vent occurrence; improve coordination of the emergency actions and assist to raise the self-preparedness.
  • Resilience-Increasing Strategies for Coasts - toolKIT (RISC-KIT), the aim of the project is to deliver an open-source and open-access toolkit, including methods, tools and management approaches to reduce risk and increase resilience to high-impact climatological events in the coastal zone. These products will enhance forecasting, prediction and early warning capabilities, improve the assessment of long-term coastal risk, evaluate coastal Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) strategies and optimize the mix of prevention, mitigation and preparedness measures
  • Morphological Impacts and COastal Risks induced by Extreme storm events (MICORE), the aim of the project was to develop and demonstrate online tools for reliable predictions of the morphological impact of marine storm events in support of civil protection mitigation strategies. The project was specifically targeted to contribute to the development of probabilistic mapping of the morphological impact of marine storms and to the production of early warning and information systems to support long-term disaster reduction.
  • Costs of Natural Hazards (CONHAZ), provided more insight into cost assessment methods, which is needed for integrated planning, budgeting and policy action prioritisation for the various natural hazards
  • Coastal State and Evolution in Cadses (CADSEALAND), focused on collecting the existing hydro-meteo-marine observations and identification of appropriate methodologies to be applied in assessing conditions of risk (either natural of anthropogenic) for coastal areas. Several partner joined the project from 3 different countries: Italy, Romania and Greece.
  • Video monitoring of littoral processes in support of coastal zone management (Coastview), supported by the CEC under the 5th Framework (2002-on-going). The project aims at identifying Coastal State Indicators which could be easily measured with the support of innovative video-techniques. The author contributes to the understanding of the mobility of nearshore bars and associated shoreline changes.
  • Study of the evolution of lagoon and coastal lakes in the Mediterranean, supported with university funds (MURST ex-60%). The project (2001-on-going) studies coastal lakes in Puglia and Sicily to understand the Holocene evolution of the sedimentary systems.
  • Prediction Of The Erosion of Cliffed Terrains (PROTECT), supported under the V Framework of the European Union (2001-on-going). The project studies the erosion of rocky cliff faces developing innovative geophysical techniques.
  • Feed-backs of Estuarine Circulation and Transport of Sediments on Phytobenthos (F-ECTS), supported by the CEC under the Marine Sciences and Technology programme (1998-2001). The project studied the relationship between sediment transport and benthic communities and involved fieldwork in the Venice Lagoon (Italy), the Ria Formosa (Portugal), the Roskilde Fjord (Denmark).
  • Sediment and Water Movement in Industrialised Estuarine Environments (SWAMIEE), supported by the CEC under the Training and Mobility of Researchers network (1997-2001). The project studied sediment transport processes in two European estuaries: the Gironde (France) and the Guadiana Estuary (Portugal).
  • Inlet Dynamics Initiative: Algarve (INDIA), supported by the CEC under the Marine Sciences and Technology programme (1997-2000). The project studied a tidal inlet of the Ria Formosa barrier-island system, in order to develop conceptual models of inlet evolution. Fieldwork and modelling were aided by the development of video techniques for remote sensing. Dr Ciavola carried out in-situ measurements of waves and currents on the ebb-delta complex.