Shallow landslide susceptibility assessment in a data-poor region of Guatemala (Comitancillo Municipality)

Although landslides are frequent natural phenomena in mountainous regions, the lack of data in emerging countries is a significant issue in the assessment of shallow landslide susceptibility. A key factor in risk-mitigation strategies is the evaluation of deterministic physical models for hazard assessment in these data-poor regions. Given the lack of physical information, input parameters to these data-intensive deterministic models have to be estimated, which has a negative impact on the reliability of the assessment. To address this problem, we examined shallow landslide hazard in Comitancillo municipality, Guatemala. Shallow landslides are here defined as small (less than two or three metre-deep) rotational or translational slides or earth flows. We based our hazard simulation on the stability index mapping model. The model’s input parameters were estimated from a statistical analysis of factors affecting landslides in the municipality obtained from a geodatabase. The outputs from the model were analysed and compared to an inventory of small-scale landslides. The results of the comparison show the effectiveness of the method developed to estimate input parameters for a deterministic model, in regions where physical data related to the assessment of shallow landslide susceptibility is lacking

Stakeholders’ Perspective on Groundwater Management in Four Water-Stressed Mediterranean Areas: Priorities and Challenges

none21sìopenBonì, Roberta; Teatini, Pietro; Zoccarato, Claudia; Guardiola-Albert, Carolina; Ezquerro, Pablo; Bru, Guadalupe; Tomás, Roberto; Valdes-Abellan, Javier; Pla, Conception; Navarro-Hernández, María I.; Elçi, Alper; Çaylak, Baris; Ören, Ali Hakan; Shatanawi, Khaldoun; Mohammad, Alsharifa Hind; Hajar, Husam Abu; Letterio, Tommaso; Genovesi, Roberto; Hreisha, Hazem; Al-Mimi, Qamar; Meisina, ClaudiaBonì, Roberta; Teatini, Pietro; Zoccarato, Claudia; Guardiola-Albert, Carolina; Ezquerro, Pablo; Bru, Guadalupe; Tomás, Roberto; Valdes-Abellan, Javier; Pla, Conception; Navarro-Hernández, María I.; Elçi, Alper; Çaylak, Baris; Ören, Ali Hakan; Shatanawi, Khaldoun; Mohammad, Alsharifa Hind; Hajar, Husam Abu; Letterio, Tommaso; Genovesi, Roberto; Hreisha, Hazem; Al-Mimi, Qamar; Meisina, Claudi

Stakeholders’ Perspective on Groundwater Management in Four Water-Stressed Mediterranean Areas: Priorities and Challenges

Recent studies highlight the fragility of the Mediterranean basin against climate stresses and the difficulties of managing the sustainable development of groundwater resources. In this work, the main issues related to groundwater management have been identified from the stakeholder’s perspective in the following four representative water-stressed Mediterranean areas: the coastal aquifer of Comacchio (Italy), the Alto Guadalentín aquifer (Spain), the alluvial aquifer of the Gediz River basin (Turkey), and the Azraq aquifer (Azraq Wetland Reserve, Jordan). This has been achieved by designing a methodology to involve and engage a representative set of stakeholders, including a questionnaire to learn their point of view concerning the current management of aquifer systems and their experience with the already available tools for groundwater resource management, such as monitoring networks and numerical models. The outcome of the survey has allowed us to identify both particular and common challenges among the four study sites and among the various groups of stakeholders. This information provides valuable insights to improve the transfer of scientific knowledge from the research centers to the authorities managing the groundwater resources and it will help to plan more effective research activities on aquifer management. The proposed methodology could be applied in other aquifers facing similar problems.This study has received funding in the framework of the RESERVOIR project: (sustainable groundwater RESources managEment by integrating eaRth observation deriVed monitoring and flOw modelIng Results), funded by the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA) programme supported by the European Union (Grant Agreement 1924; https://reservoir-prima.org/, accessed on 13 March 2022). The research was also funded by the University of Pavia in the framework of a research grant award “assegno di tipo A premiale” for research activities at the Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences, within the research project entitled “Sustainable groundwater resources management by integrating A-DInSAR derived monitoring and flow modeling results” assigned to Roberta Bonì from March 2019 to February 2021

Shallow landslide susceptibility assessment in a data-poor region of Guatemala (Comitancillo municipality)

Although landslides are frequent natural phenomena in mountainous regions, the lack of data in emerging countries is a significant issue in the assessment of shallow landslide susceptibility. A key factor in risk-mitigation strategies is the evaluation of deterministic physical models for hazard assessment in these data-poor regions. Given the lack of physical information, input parameters to these data-intensive deterministic models have to be estimated, which has a negative impact on the reliability of the assessment. To address this problem, we examined shallow landslide hazard in Comitancillo municipality, Guatemala. Shallow landslides are here defined as small (less than two or three metre-deep) rotational or translational slides or earth flows. We based our hazard simulation on the stability index mapping model. The model’s input parameters were estimated from a statistical analysis of factors affecting landslides in the municipality obtained from a geodatabase. The outputs from the model were analysed and compared to an inventory of small-scale landslides. The results of the comparison show the effectiveness of the method developed to estimate input parameters for a deterministic model, in regions where physical data related to the assessment of shallow landslide susceptibility is lacking

ORCHARDS LAI ESTIMATION THROUGH THE RADIATION EXTINCTION COEFFICIENT

Light interception is an indicator of crop vigor and phenological phase. Although algorithms found in literature are useful for calibration of direct measurement tools, they are difficult to replicate since optical corrections are needed to account for different canopy shapes. During 2016-17 growing seasons non destructive, cheap and easy to use methods to assess plant- light interaction characteristics were developed and tested in six orchards in Emilia-Romagna (Italy). The Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) was detected below and above crown by an AccuPAR LP80 ceptometer, Canopy Cover (CC) was derived through hemispherical photos from a smartphone equipped with a fisheye lens, leaves for direct LAI were collected from sample plants, and measured in laboratory. The below PAR was adjusted according two geometrical corrections. The ratio above-to-below PAR was inverted to obtain the fraction of absorbed PAR (FAPAR), and to estimate the indirect LAI. Correlations between direct and indirect LAI according to plant geometry, and regardless the species, is presented. Trend lines equations were used to calculate the extinction coefficient (K), allowing LAI estimation in other orchards with similar geometrical characteristics. These studies were part of the activities supported by the MOSES European project (http://moses-project.eu/moses_website/)

POSITIVE: A SMART IRRIGATION PROJECT FOR AGRICULTURE 4.0

POSITIVE (Scalable Operational Protocols for precision agriculture) is a precision agriculture project for variable rate irrigation designed to improve the functionality of the IRRIFRAME system, the irrigation advice service of the Emilia-Romagna region. POSITIVE is based on satellite remote sensing, the use of vegetation indices for crops, IoT (Internet of Things) technologies, Big Data and 4.0 irrigation machinery. A central server manages the information flows and provides variable rate irrigation maps for farmers as final users. The system is public and free. In the first year of "IRRIFRAME plus" system experimentation (improved version of IRRIFRAME through POSITIVE machinery), at the experimental farm located in Mezzolara di Budrio (BO - Italy), promising results have been obtained for maize, with a WUE (Water Use Efficiency) going from 4.2 g l-1 (with standard IRRIFRAME service) to 5.2 g l-1. For sparse crops, such as tomato and onion, results were not so satisfactory. The future years of experimentation will allow to improve the calibration of VI-crop coefficient (Kc) correlation in order to improve the response in condition of partial soil cover and wetting condition

ALADIN PROJECT: SYSTEMS INTEGRATION FOR VARIABLE RATE IRRIGATION

ALADIN (Agroalimentare Idrointelligente) is a two-year project dedicated to precision irrigation. It integrates different systems for collecting information (monitoring of crop conditions), processing of responses (irrigation prescription maps) and implementation in the field (variable rate irrigating machine). The experimental protocol is tested in four different farms in the Emilia Romagna region on two important crops, maize and tomato. The NDVI index, positively correlated to the crop vigor condition, is used as an indicator of the plants water status. The IRRIFRAME irrigation service, based on integration of NDVI information, produces a prescription map to be supplied to the variable rate irrigating device