To achieve its goals, actions will be initiated by MEDFLOOD, which can be divided into the following categories.
Networking and dissemination tools
This action is focused at establishing a network of scientists (“the MEDFLOOD team”), coordinated by the four project leaders, who will submit data and cooperate towards the achievement of the project objectives. The team will be updated on the project advancement with a mailing list, and via the website of the project, www.medflood.org. Each year, a workshop will be organised, open to scientists working in a relevant field and willing to participate. Here, ideas and new approaches to the issues of RSL mapping and future sea-level rise projection will be discussed, with particular emphasis on practical solutions to be implemented for MEDFLOOD’s success.
Crowdsourcing and Web-GIS construction
The core idea of MEDFLOOD is that the most efficient solution to build large databases is represented by ‘crowdsourcing’. With this idea, a common structure for submitting RSL data will be established. This will include, but will not be limited to: the type of marker, its elevation and its significance in indicating past sea-level position, and other information relevant for the correct interpretation of the marker (such as tectonic activity in the area). The MEDFLOOD team (and scientists requesting access) will be asked to fill a web form with this information, in order to obtain a standardized database. The results will be checked for completeness and to avoid duplicate records, and will then be updated into a Web GIS. From here, a user will be able to query and download the data and to see their spatial representation.
Future flooding scenarios
This action is aimed at defining future flooding scenarios, combining corrections for GIA effects across the Mediterranean, tectonic uplift/subsidence estimates from the RSL database, and sea-level rise scenarios from IPCC. Digital Elevation Models will be sourced and purchased in the second year of project from national cartographic institutes across the Mediterranean, and flooding risk maps will be produced using geospatial statistical analyses. Flooding maps will be obtained using the methodology described in Lambeck et al. (2011), based on the combined observational-computational solutions.
Cooperation with other projects
One of the fundamental requests by INQUA was to link MEDFLOOD with other projects dealing with similar issues on a global scale, in particular with PALSEA project (see http://eis.bris.ac.uk/~glyms/working_group.html), that is working towards an open-source, quality controlled RSL database. Another project dealing with databases of plio-pleistocene sea levels in a global context is the PLIOMAX project (www.pliomax.org). PLIOMAX (Raymo et al., 2009) has the timely objective to increase the accuracy of global sea-level estimates for the mid-Pliocene warm period (MPWP), between 3.3 and 2.9 million years ago. During the first year of the project, cooperation will be sought with these two projects, in order to feed their global datasets with MEDFLOOD results.
