Nearshore hazard monitoring and Early Warning System
NEWS develops an integrated system, which includes monitoring, early warning and mitigation of the coastal risks, specifically aiming at advising the population about the risk of flooding, littoral sand erosions, cliff failures and at activating protection measures in order to avoid damages to persons. The projects carries out:
- an evaluation model of the nearshore waves' effects through the identification of the risk scenarios, the development of a model for assessing the short-term effects of wave motion under the coast, the development of a model for evaluating the effects of wave motion on the cliff failures, the development of a neural network for predicting the short-term effects of wave motion under the coast
-  a coastal risk monitoring network through the implementation of an oceanographic boom system for monitoring the wave motion, the data processing from the Calypso project HF SeaSonde radar stations for tracking the aerial motion, the equipment of a drone with LIDAR system, HD cameras and GPS system for monitoring the coasts and the microfractures in coastal cliffs.
- an early warning system of some parts of Sicilian and Maltese coasts through a processing platform of data from monitoring systems, the definition of an algorithm and an ICT tool interfacing with the monitoring platform and the operative units of civil protection, the definition of intervention procedures for emergency management interfacing with civil protection, the development of an App for boaters, fishermen, swimmers etc. with information on the usability of coastal stretches, the experimentation on three pilot areas (Granelli, Selmun, Santa Maria del Focallo) of the forecast models and the definition of the respective risk scenarios.