Aims

Research Questions

In order to contribute to a better understanding of mountain hazard resilience EMERGENCE will address the following overarching research question:

How does transdisciplinary co-creation of knowledge in the context of a comprehensive assessment of different (climate) triggers, geomorphometric catchment characteristics, mitigation efforts and exposure dynamics enable us to specify, quantify, understand, and interpret prevailing interactions and feedbacks leading to torrential loss events and, as such, the changing resilience of mountain communities?

Specifically, the following research questions will be addressed:

1. Which region-specific weather patterns triggering torrential loss events can be identified on climate-relevant spatial and temporal scales?
2. Which spatio-temporal exposure patterns concerning different types of elements at risk can be identified according to different development pathways, and how does technical hazard mitigation influence exposure?
3. How do climate, exposure and technical mitigation influence the occurrence of torrential loss events, what are the interdependencies between these drivers, and how have they evolved over time?
4. How do interactions and feedbacks of a coupled human-landscape model provide new insights to the understanding of resilience pattern and pathways of mountain communities regarding torrential loss events and needs for adaptation?

Goals

The corresponding project objectives are:

1. Determination of seasonal meteorological ‘Hazard Trigger Patterns’ for torrential hazards within characteristic geoclimatic subregions
2. Assessment of exposure and mitigation dynamics
3. Multivariate model development for torrential loss event susceptibility
4. Mapping resilience patterns and pathways based on a coupled human-landscape model