• Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
• DOI 10.5194/nhess-12-2271-2012
• 20 July 2012

A framework of guiding recommendations for effective pre-flood and flood warning communications derived from the URFlood project (2nd ERA-Net CRUE Research Funding Initiative) from extensive quantitative and qualitative research in Finland, Ireland, Italy and Scotland is presented.

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• Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
• DOI 10.5194/nhess-12-2299-2012
• 20 July 2012

Public perception of flood risk and flood risk information is often overlooked when developing flood risk management plans. As scientists and the public at large perceive risk in very different ways, flood risk management strategies are known to have failed in the past due to this disconnect between authorities and the public. This paper uses a novel approach in exploring the role of public perception in developing flood risk communication strategies in Europe.

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• Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
• DOI 10.5194/nhess-12-2159-2012
• 10 July 2012

Shaking by moderate to large earthquakes in the Mediterranean Sea has proved in the past to potentially trigger catastrophic sediment collapse and flow. On 21 May 2003, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake located near Boumerdès (central Algerian coast) triggered large turbidity currents responsible for 29 submarine cable breaks at the foot of the continental slope over ~150 km from west to east.

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• Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
• DOI 10.5194/nhess-12-2077-2012
• 27 June 2012

Our results show that the progressive characterisation of a turbidite record from a single sedimentary system can provide a continuous paleo-earthquake history in regions of short historical record and incomplete onland paleo-earthquake evidences. The systematic description of each turbidite enables us to infer the triggering mechanism.

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• Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
• DOI 10.5194/nhess-12-1969-2012
• 25 June 2012

In this study we present an alternative wind gust warning guideline for Meteoalarm, the severe weather warning website for Europe. There are unrealistically large differences in levels and issuing frequencies of all warning levels currently in use between neighbouring Meteoalarm countries. This study provides a guide for the Meteoalarm community to review their wind gust warning thresholds.

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• Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
• DOI 10.5194/nhess-12-1911-2012
• 18 June 2012

Modelling approaches are needed to accelerate understanding of adverse weather impacts on crop performances and yields. The aim was to elicit biometeorological conditions that affect Belgian arable crop yield, commensurate with the scale of climatic impacts.

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• Earth System Dynamics
• DOI 10.5194/esd-3-63-2012
• 6 June 2012

In this study we compare the response of four state-of-the-art Earth system models to climate engineering under scenario G1 of two model intercomparison projects: GeoMIP (Geoengineering Model Intercomparison Project) and IMPLICC (EU project “Implications and risks of engineering solar radiation to limit climate change”).

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• Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
• DOI 10.5194/nhess-12-1769-2012
• 29 May 2012

The winds associated with extra-tropical cyclones are amongst the costliest natural perils in Europe. Re/insurance companies typically have insured exposure at multiple locations and hence the losses they incur from any individual storm crucially depend on that storm’s spatial structure. Motivated by this, this study investigates the spatial structure of the most extreme windstorms in Europe.

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• Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
• DOI 10.5194/nhess-12-1641-2012
• 23 May 2012

The observed increase of direct flood damage over the last decades may be caused by changes in the meteorological drivers of floods, or by changing land-use patterns and socio-economic developments. It is still widely unknown to which extent these factors will contribute to future flood risk changes.

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• Solid Earth
• DOI 10.5194/se-3-87-2012
• 12 March 2012

We propose the hypothesis that natural selection, acting on the specificity or preference for CO₂ over O₂ of the enzyme rubisco (ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase), has controlled the CO₂:O₂ ratio of the atmosphere since the evolution of photosynthesis and has also sustained the Earth’s greenhouse-set surface temperature.

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