Joined Semiar at TRB 2012

The three European FP7 extreme weather and climate change projects -WEATHER, EWENT and ECCONET- organised a special workshop at Transportation Research Board's Annual Meeting in Washington, on January 22nd. The workshop presided by EWENT coordinator Dr Pekka Leviäkangas and having WEATHER and ECCONET coordinators, Dr Claus Doll and Mr Christophe Heyndrickx as panellists, got together several dozens of attendees of the Annual Meeting and was mentioned in several occasions as a good example of EU-US co-operation in the arena of transportation research. The workshop involved speakers from all the projects accompanied by other speakers from the US and EU. Key note presentation was given by Mr Philippe Crist from the OECD's International Transport Forum. The presentations are available via the websites of the WEATHER and EWENT projects.

The discussion revealed that there are still huge uncertainties in valuing the damages caused by weather extremes to transportation systems, which are determined by system delimitations, consideration of extremes as well as by data uncertainties. However, the project cluster funded under the 7th RTD framework programme of the European Commission substantially contributes to identifying the major hot spots. Further cooperation between European, North American and supranational institutions  on the topic, including an extended session stream at TRB 2013 are envisaged.

Exploring Extreme Weather Impacts on Transportation System Operations in Europe: Opportunities for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation
Sunday, January 22, 2012, 9:00am-12:00pm, Hilton, Columbia Hall 6
Pekka Leviakangas, VTT, presiding
Sponsored by Committee on International Activities (A0010)
http://ewent.vtt.fi/Documents/Seminars/TRB2012/trb_annual_2012.htm

Extreme Weather and Climate Change Impacts on Transportation Systems in OECD Countries (P12-5368)
     Phillipe LeRouic Crist, International Transport Forum, France

 Extreme Weather Phenomena Affecting Transportation Systems in Europe: Identification, Climatology, and Projections Until 2050 (P12-5369)
     Heikki Tuomenvirta, Finnish Meteorological Institute

  Evolution of Long-Term Vulnerability of Transportation (P12-5370)
     Claus Doll, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research, Germany

 Costs of Extreme Weather to the European Community (P12-5371)
     Marko Nokkala, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

 Aviation and Extreme Weather: Findings from Extreme Weather Impacts on European Networks of Transport Project and Other European Projects (P12-5372)
     Thorsten Mühlhausen, German Aerospace Center (DLR)

 Effects of Climate Change on Inland Waterways: Methodological Approach (P12-5374)
     Christophe J.C. Heyndrickx, Transport and Mobility Leuven, Belgium

 Adaptation and Mitigation of Inland Waterways to Weather Extremes (P12-5728)
     Juha Schweighofer, via donau

 Climate Change Modeling and Travel Behavior Survey from FUTURENET Project (P12-5729)
     Tim Ryley, Loughborough University, United Kingdom

 Identifying the Need for an Integrated Framework for Linking Climate Change Impacts to Emergency Adaptation Strategies for Applications on Transport Networks (12-1423)
     Evangelos Mitsakis, Hellenic Institute of Transport, Greece
     Anestis Papanikolaou, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Greece
     Georgia Aifadopoulou, Hellenic Institute of Transport, Greece
     Josep Maria Salanova Grau, Hellenic Institute of Transport, Greece
     Claus Doll, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research, Germany

Climate-Related Impacts on Transport Operations (P12-5730)
     Pamela Murray-Tuite, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Project Update on Real-Time Monitoring, Surveillance, and Control of Road Networks in Adverse Weather (P12-5731)
     Nour-Eddin El Faouzi, Institut National de Recherche sur les Transports et leur Sécurité