Dr Dariusz Baranowski from the Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) leading an international team of scientists, investigated and described meteorological factors that affect the formation of floods in Sumatra. They used social media data in the research. The results of the work have just been published in the journal Nature Communications.

One of Indonesia’s largest islands – Sumatra – is often hit by extreme rainfall, compounded by the mountainous topography of its territory. In such conditions, the island is exposed to natural hazards associated with precipitation, such as floods and landslides.

These phenomena represent over 50% of all natural disasters in Sumatra. That is why an international team of scientists decided to look into this problem under the Years of the Maritime Continent program and the Equatorial Line Observations project. Researchers from Poland (Institute of Geophysics PAS, Collegium Civitas), USA (Naval Research Laboratory, Scripps Institution of Oceanography) and Indonesia (Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics of the Republic of Indonesia, Andalas University) participated in the research work.
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https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16171-2