The "Center of Excellence in Telesensing of Environment and Model Prediction of Severe Events" called CETEMPS was established in 2001 with the first public selection notice for centres of excellence set forth by the MUR (Ministry of University and Research). The notice did not foresee meteorological topics but did include arguments regarding land stability. The main objective of the proposal therefore focused on developing techniques to prevent and predict severe meteorological phenomena which may lead to flooding and landslides. The Centre received funding for about 1.5 million Euros in the first three years and an additional 20% from the University. CETEMPS was established as a structure pursuing four distinct research activities, namely meteorological and hydrological modelling, land and satellite remote sensing. Today the research fields have doubled including climatology, atmospheric chemical modelling and observation, and the observatory.
Initially instruments and equipment included C band radar, wind profiler, microwave radiometer, sodar and lidars. The first and most important project agreement was established with Abruzzi Region in the area of weather forecasting on a regional level in 2002. Thanks to this project intense collaboration stemmed with the DPC (Dept. of Civil Protection) which in 2004 attributed the role of “Centre of competence” for meteorological modelling and radar meteorology to CETEMPS. The need to develop autonomous forms of financial support encourages CETEMPS to participate in other European programmes (RiskAWARE, Medusa) and in projects financed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the European Space Agency (ESA). In fact a strong point of this Centre is its collaboration with the Departments of Physical and Chemical Sciences, of Information Engineering, Computer Science and Mathematics, and of Industrial and Information Engineering and Economics. CETEMPS also runs a renowned biannual international summer school, established in 2002 (International Summer School on Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences - ISSAOS) which has reached its XII edition. CETEMPS has provided the Abruzzi Region with hydrometereological forecasting for the past 15 years and carried out daily forecasting services for RAI3 television and RAI-Radio programmes for the past 8 years.
The goal pursued by CETEMPS as regards numerical meteorology is that of improving weather forecasting using satellite and radar data assimilation techniques and the study of processes that most affect the high-resolution prediction. As regards hydrology, CETEMPS has developed its own water-flow model (CHyM, CETEMPS Hydrological Model) which is a fundamental part of the forecasting system developed for the Abruzzi regional authority and used in various European projects. The land remote sensing part uses microwave radar and lidars to study atmospheric conditions; in particular, CETEMPS handles the development of algorithms for radar data processing in the Abruzzi region. As regards satellite data, CETEMPS has developed new data observation and processing techniques which have led to participation in two ASI proposals for the study of small space missions. Recently CETEMPS has developed new sectors that include air quality forecasting and composition measurement through fluorescence techniques induced by laser. Experiences developed using lidars has led CETEMPS to participate in the Pierre Auger Observatory Project on cosmic ray spectrum measurement. Moreover, today CETEMPS includes a computer centre equipped with multiprocessor architectures where all numerical processing is done both for operational purposes and for research and development as well. In 2004 CETEMPS gave rise to a small-medium-sized company in this sector called HIMET (High Innovation in Meteorology and Environmental Technology) which represents a dynamic regional asset, offering employment opportunities in a sector with enormous potential.
Today after more than 15 years of activity, 8 research channels and with over 40 staff members, not only from the University of L'Aquila but also from the University of Rome "La Sapienza", the CNR, the University of Perugia, the University of Brescia, as well as foreign universities and research centres, CETEMPS can be defined as a centre of excellence of basic and applied research on hydrometereological, climatological, atmospheric chemical and observational experimental issues, at a regional, national and international level.
Address | Edificio Renato Ricamo, via Vetoio, Coppito - 67100 L'Aquila |
Phone 1 | +39 0862433012 |
Phone 2 | +39 0862433073 |
Fax | +39 0862433089 |
cetemps@strutture.univaq.it | |
PEC | cetemps@pec.univaq.it |
Web | http://cetemps.aquila.infn.it/ |
Prof. Gabriele Curci | |
Phone | +39 0862 433199 |
Fax | +39 |
gabriele.curci@univaq.it |