Prof. N. Theodossiou key-note presentation on the “Impacts of extreme rainfall to transport networks” at the 4th BRIGAID Project meeting (Venice, 9-10 November 2017)
Prof. N. Theodossiou (AUTH, ICRE8) participated in the BRIGAID conference in Venice, providing a key-note presentation on the “Impacts of extreme rainfall to transport networks”. The presentation emphasized on the particularities of highways as structures affecting very large areas and interrupting the natural flow in sequential watersheds. Highways due to their significant economic and social impact need to be designed in order to be able to function even under extreme conditions. Climate change is expected to affect these structures in an negative way since an increase in the frequency of extreme phenomena is expected. Combined impacts of both draughts and floods intensify phenomena like soil erosion and soil transport introducing another significant danger for highways. The presentation initiated a very interesting discussion on a number of topics like the development of monitoring instruments, ways to reduce the impacts of soil erosion and methodologies to improve the estimations of the profile of extreme rainfall events under climate change conditions.