Co-convener: Dr. Fausto Guzzetti
CNR-IRPI Perugia, Via della Madonna Alta, 106
06128 Perugia, Italy
Tel:+39 75 505.4943, Fax:+39 75 505.1325
E-mail: F.Guzzetti@irpi.cnr.it

Co-convener: Mr. Didier Richard
Unite de Recherche Erosion Torrentielle, Niege et Avalanches
Cemagref
2 rue de la papeterie
BP76, St. Martin d'Heres, France
Tel:+33 (0) 4 7676 2773/27, Fax:+33 (0) 4 7675 3803
E-mail: didier.richard@cemagref.fr

  Scope of the meeting

 Infrequent but high impact events are increasingly recognised to be important controls on hillslope and channel evolution and on river basin sediment yield. Major landslide, debris flow, gully and volcanic events can inject enormous amounts of sediment into a channel system in a short space of time. Poor land management is often blamed for exacerbating their effects. Likewise, catastrophic floods generated by rainstorms, hurricanes, glacial lake outbursts and dam failures carry more sediment in a matter of hours or days than has been transported in the previous decade or even century. Such events also leave an aftermath of altered sediment supply and channel and hillslope morphology which has long term repercussions for channel behaviour and basin sediment yield. The impacts and consequences of extreme erosion and sediment yield events are of interest to geomorphologists seeking to understand channel and landscape evolution, to engineers designing reservoirs, protection schemes and other riverside infrastructure and to disaster relief organisations. Papers are invited on all aspects of the topic, including processes, impacts and mitigation. Through its concentration on erosion and sediment yield, the session will complement the International Symposium on Extraordinary Floods to be held in Iceland later in 2000.

Goals of the open forum

The forum is intended to stimulate an open discussion on the subject of the symposium as well as on any other closely related subject before the date of the symposium. We hope in this way to disseminate information and to stimulate a discussion that will hopefully contribute to a better and more fruitfull symposium. Individuals intersted in these (or related) arguments are strongly invited to contribute to the discussion. Any comment, idea, suggestion or criticism on the symposium or on any single contribution presented on these pages should be addressed to the convener as well as to all the partecipants that provided an e-mail address.

Submission of Abstracts

The only written requirement for EGS meetings is the abstract of the talk. Participants may therefore present their latest thoughts and results in the talk without having to commit them to a paper publication. Each talk is scheduled to last 15 minutes.

A copy of the abstract should be submitted to one of the conveners AND to the EGS Office by 15 December 1999. The abstract should be in the correct format and may be submitted electronically or as hard copy, camera ready. The EGS does not wish to receive the abstracts as faxes but the convener's copy may be sent as a fax.

Options for preparation and submission include:

• Use the EGS Abstract LaTex Macro for automatic editing and formatting of your abstract and for automatic generation of the Submittal Information Message. This is available at www.copernicus.org/cop-cgi/latex-abstract-mail or from the EGS Office (egs@copernicus.org).
• Use any word processing programme and prepare and format your abstract in the required manner. Complete an Abstract Submittal Information Form (www.copernicus.org/EGS/egsga/41a.htm or prepare an Abstract Submittal Information Message and add it to your abstract. Please obtain full details of the format and the submission procedure from the EGS web site or Office ( egs@copernicus.org ).

Related sessions

Other sessions for NH02:

• HS02.01 Predicting and estimating extremes of precipitation
• HS02.02 Evaluation of existing flood warning schemes (including neural networks)

Other sediment related sessions include:

• HS03.01 Vegetation controls on water flow and sediment yield at the catchment scales
• HS03.02 River restoration and the lessons of past channelization
• HS03.04 Nutrient management and nutrient removal
• HSA2 Estuarine morphodynamics: tides, turbulence and transport

Other landslide related sessions include:

• NH3.01 Risk mapping - landslides and floods
• NH4.04 The use of historical data in natural hazard assessment - landslides
• NH7.01 Monitoring, modelling and mapping of mass movements
• NH7.02 Rainfall triggered landslides and debris flow
• NH7.05 Remote sensing and monitoring of landslides

In addition the Hydrological Sciences section of the EGS is supporting its usual range of hydrologically related sessions. The meeting provides an excellent opportunity to meet hydrologists and other watery and sedimentary people from all round Europe and beyond!