The role of morphometric parameters in Digital Terrain Models interpolation accuracy: a case study

AbstractIn the present study different algorithms, usually available in GIS environment, are analyzed in order to spot an optimal interpolation methodology and to define, by classification techniques, which morphological variable affects the interpolation quality. The investigated dataset is a helicopter-borne laser scanner survey carried out on a mountain slope. It has been interpolated at various resolutions, and a percentage of the entire set has been employed to evaluate the interpolation accuracy.The analysis has highlighted, among the tested interpolators, the Natural Neighbour as the best one. The classification has drawn the attention to the total curvature and slope as the main factors affecting interpolation accuracy. The next goal is the mapping of such classification results

HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAMS: A TOOL TO REPRESENT A CHANGING ITALY

I fotogrammi storici, opportunamente utilizzati attraverso procedimenti di miglioramento delle caratteristiche fotografiche e geometriche, consentono la ricostruzione delle dinamiche evolutive del paesaggio italiano. In particolare, nella presente memoria, vengono investigate le dinamiche occorse nel territorio collinare della provincia di Cuneo. L’ausilio di metodologie geomatiche ha fornito una valutazione delle transizioni nelle coperture del suolo, e quindi nelle dinamiche socio-economiche. Prova di questo processo è stata positivamente riscontrata nelle attuali disposizioni normative a sostegno delle produzioni agricole di pregio.The comparison of appropriately processed historical photograms allows the reconstruction of the land cover dynamics of the Italian landscape. In particular, in this paper, the dynamics of a hilly area of the province of Cuneo are assessed. The use of geomatic methodologies has provided an evaluation of land cover transitions, and consequently in the socio-economic dynamics. Proof of this process has been positively detected in the legislative measures supporting quality agricultural production

Snow gliding and glide-snow avalanches: recent outcomes from two experimental test sites in Aosta Valley (northwestern Italian Alps)

Snow gliding and glide-snow avalanches are gaining importance among scientists as global warming might induce conditions favourable to those phenomena. Our aim is to analyse such processes with a particular focus on the potential driving factors associated with the soil conditions. We equipped two experimental test sites in the Aosta Valley region (NW Italy) with glide-snow shoes, temperature and volumetric liquid water content (VLWC) sensors in the soil and in the basal snowpack layer; snow and weather parameters were also collected by automatic weather stations and at manual snow measuring sites. In the two monitoring seasons 2013–2014 and 2014–2015 we registered nine glide-snow avalanches, two cold and seven warm events, which were characterized by different snow and soil conditions. In the only warm glide-snow avalanche event, which presented a continuous gliding before, the daily glide rate showed a significant exponential relationship with the soil VLWC. We also found, though without a general trend, that gliding and non-gliding periods (either considering warm and cold periods separately or together) were characterized by significantly different predisposing factors. This study contributes to the assessment of the importance of soil VLWC, which seems to be one of the most important driving factors for gliding processes. Therefore, it supports the need, already suggested by other scientists, for analysing such processes with an interdisciplinary approach which integrates snow and soil sciences