Ensembles of Hazardous Hydrometeorological Phenomena: Legal and Regulatory Aspects, Terminology and Classification

Purpose. The paper is devoted to the analysis of the current state of research and achievements in the field of natural hazards and hydrometeorological phenomena and their ensembles (multi-hazards) from works published in specialized international and Russian scientific journals and monographs. Methods and Results. Normative legal documents regulating the terminology in the field of hazardous and multi-hazardous natural and hydrometeorological phenomena, differences in the adopted terminology; existing classifications of multi-hazardous hydrometeorological phenomena, methods for performing such classifications, possible prospects for use, hazard threshold values and methods for their calculation; studies of multi-hazardous hydrometeorological phenomena based on the results of field observations and global reanalysis are considered in this article. Special attention is paid to the current stage of development of natural and exact sciences in Russia, contributing to the prevention and forecasting of dangerous hydrometeorological phenomena. Conclusions. The increase in the recurrence of dangerous phenomena since the beginning of the XXI century, along with the development of information technologies, such as the creation of electronic databases, geoinformation systems, the use of satellite information and mathematical modeling made it possible to analyze, predict, evaluate and minimize (albeit to an incomplete extent) the consequences of manifestations of hazardous natural phenomena. It is shown that solving the problems of forecasting, monitoring, and minimizing the consequences of the occurrence of hazardous natural phenomena and their combinations requires interdisciplinary solutions and interaction with all stakeholders - society, government, science, and business. It is important to develop and implement plans for integrated management in regions that are particularly at risk. A big problem, in our opinion, is that in Russian and world science there is a large gap between fundamental research and decision-making bodies.