The wind forecast for safety management of port areas

This paper illustrates the research activities linked with the European Project “Wind and Ports: The forecast of wind for the management and the safety of port areas”, which involves the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering of the University of Genova, and the Port Authorities of Genova, La Spezia, Livorno, Savona (Italy) and Bastia (France). The project is based on three tools, namely the historical databases, the global meteorological data and forecasting system, and the data provided by a wide seaport monitoring network that represents also the first product of the project. These tools are processed by a set of numerical models that represents the second product and the key tool to derive three further products, namely the statistical mapping of seaport areas, a medium-term forecasting system and a short-term forecasting system. A web-based GIS system is being realized to make the products of this project directly available to port operators, within a global system for a safe management of port areas. Downstream of these products, this paper provides some insights of the wide validation procedure that is going to be implemented to check and to improve the quality of the results. Further prospects for new research projects using the results of the Wind and Ports Project as starting point are also discussed.