Flood forecast in complex orography coupling distributed hydro- meteorological models and in-situ and remote sensing data

A flood forecast chain, developed at the Center of Excellence for Remote Sensiong and Hydro-meteorology (CETEMPS) and based on coupled mesoscale atmospheric and newly developed distributed hydrological model with in-situ and remote data integration, is illustrated. The focus is on small-catchment flood forecast in complex topography in Central Italy, but the developed modeling and processing integrated tools may be easily applied to any geographic and orographic scenario. Emphasis is put on the integration of numerical models and retrieval algorithms with aim to provide an overview of an objective system for hydro-meteorological alert-mapping emission. As an example, the forecast hydro-meteorological chain is applied to a case study of an extreme event on 23-25 January 2003 and results are discussed.