30 research outputs found
Rainfall thresholds for shallow landslide occurrence in Calabria, southern Italy
Abstract. In many areas, rainfall is the primary trigger of landslides. Determining the rainfall conditions responsible for landslide occurrence is important, and may contribute to saving lives and properties. In a long-term national project for the definition of rainfall thresholds for possible landslide occurrence in Italy, we compiled a catalogue of 186 rainfall events that resulted in 251 shallow landslides in Calabria, southern Italy, from January 1996 to September 2011. Landslides were located geographically using Google Earth®, and were given a mapping and a temporal accuracy. We used the landslide information, and sub-hourly rainfall measurements obtained from two complementary networks of rain gauges, to determine cumulated event vs. rainfall duration (ED) thresholds for Calabria. For this purpose, we adopted an existing method used to prepare rainfall thresholds and to estimate their associated uncertainties in central Italy. The regional thresholds for Calabria were found to be nearly identical to previous ED thresholds for Calabria obtained using a reduced set of landslide information, and slightly higher than the ED thresholds obtained for central Italy. We segmented the regional catalogue of rainfall events with landslides in Calabria into lithology, soil regions, rainfall zones, and seasonal periods. The number of events in each subdivision was insufficient to determine reliable thresholds, but allowed for preliminary conclusions about the role of the environmental factors in the rainfall conditions responsible for shallow landslides in Calabria. We further segmented the regional catalogue based on administrative subdivisions used for hydro-meteorological monitoring and operational flood forecasting, and we determined separate ED thresholds for the Tyrrhenian and the Ionian coasts of Calabria. We expect the ED rainfall thresholds for Calabria to be used in regional and national landslide warning systems. The thresholds can also be used for landslide hazard and risk assessments, and for erosion and landscape evolution studies, in the study area and in similar physiographic regions in the Mediterranean area
Analysis and Management of Changing Risks for Natural Hazards Analysis of impact of hydro-meteorological events on alluvial fans: a case study in Calabria (Southern Italy)
Conventional and innovative techniques for the monitoring of displacements in landslide affected areas
This work shows a methodological approach for the joint use of geological and geomorphological studies and conventional/innovative monitoring data in densely urbanized areas at landslide risk. The methodology is applied to a test area in the Calabria region (southern Italy) extensively affected by several active landslides involving urban areas. These landslides have been studied and monitored via ground-based techniques for many years. In the study area the comparison and interpretation of DInSAR data with geomorphological studies and inclinometric monitoring has been carried out. The results obtained, thanks to the validation of remote sensed data via ground-truths, provide a further step towards the integrated use of DInSAR data within landslide risk mitigation strategies
Climate change and social perception: A case study in southern Italy
The consequences of climate change can involve various ambits and be very severe. For this reason, the social perception of climate change is a fundamental issue since it can influence the decisions of the policymakers, by encouraging or discouraging political, economic and social actions. In this paper, a sample of 300 interviews, collected through a standardized questionnaire and carried out among two municipalities located in southern Italy, was exploited to investigate the perception of climate change. Specific issues, regarding perceptions about climate change, concerns about its impacts, level of information, behavior and actions, exposure to extreme natural events and trust, were addressed to give answers to the research questions: (i) Is climate change perceived by the population? (ii) What is the degree of the community resilience to extreme natural events and climate change? As the main findings, this survey highlighted that the spatio-temporal dimension affects population perception, suggesting that some issues, such as correct behavior towards the geosphere, the sustainability of anthropization processes, community resilience and disaster risk reduction policies, can be very central and useful to mitigate the effects of climate change in population and society. Moreover, climate change perception varies in relation to contextual factors, including media communication, socio-demographic characteristics of respondents, knowledge and education, economic and institutional factors, personal values and, finally, psychological factors and experience
Relationships between land degradation forms and historical development of malaria in Calabria (Southern Italy)
The Use of DInSAR Data for the Analysis of Building Damage Induced by Slow-Moving Landslides
The paper aims at checking the contribution that DInSAR data, processed via different algorithms, can provide to the analysis of damages recorded to buildings located in slow-moving landslide affected areas. For this purpose, an urban area in Calabria region, southern Italy, was selected due to the availability of both DInSAR data since 1992 and historic information concerning damage data recorded via municipal ordinances. The combination of DInSAR data and the results of supplementary damage surveys allowed the preliminary investigation of a cause (maximum velocity)-effect (damage) relationship which, once validated, can be valuably used for damage analysis and forecasting
Shallow landslides triggered by consecutive rainfall events at Catanzaro strait (Calabria–Southern Italy)
Note Illustrative della Carta Geologica d'Italia alla scala 1:50.000, foglio 580 Soverato
Catalogue of Rainfall Events with Shallow Landslides and New Rainfall Thresholds in Italy
In Italy, rainfall-induced shallow landslides are frequent and harmful phenomena. The
prediction of their occurrence is of social significance for civil protection purposes. For the
operational prediction of rainfall-induced shallow landslides empirical rainfall thresholds
based on the statistical analysis of past rainfall conditions that triggered slope failures are
commonly used. The paper describes a catalogue of 1981 rainfall events, which caused 2408
shallow landslides in Italy in the period 1996–2012. Information on rainfall-induced landslides
was collected searching chiefly online newspaper archives, blogs, and fire brigade reports. For
each documented failure, we reconstructed the triggering rainfall conditions (rainfall duration
D and cumulated rainfall E) using national and regional rain gauge networks. We analysed the
rainfall conditions to determine new ED rainfall thresholds for Italy. The calculated thresholds
can be implemented in a landslide forecasting system to mitigate landslide hazard and risk