NH
Natural Hazards

Landslide hazard

Climate Change: is Viticulture under threat?

December 21, 2020
Climate Change: is Viticulture under threat?
Figure 1 - Supercell reaching Soave hills, north-eastern Italy. (Photo credit: Elizabeth Zanella, Coffele Estate Wine Farm)

In the afternoon of August 29, 2020, an intense supercell, which is a thunderstorm characterized by the presence of a deep, persistently rotating updraft, affected the province of Verona in the north of Italy (Figure 1). It was not the first event of this kind; several other events, including tornado episodes, had already occurred during summer 2020. Here the video of the downburst recorded during ...[Read More]

Mount Saint Helens 40 years later – May 18, 1980: for everything to stay the same, everything must change

June 22, 2020
Mount Saint Helens 40 years later – May 18, 1980: for everything to stay the same, everything must change
Mount Saint Helens today image as captured from Google Earth.

Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it! Just a few words radioed by volcanologist David ‘Dave’ Johnston on May 18, 1980, to USGS headquarter in Vancouver, Washington State. It was 8:32 a.m., and a few hours later he lost his life during the (in)famous Mount Saint Helens eruption. That day, exactly forty years ago, the eruption of Mount St. Helen upset the world. It all started with a collapse on the nor ...[Read More]

NH medallists Episode II – John Clague & his passion for Natural Hazard

May 11, 2020
NH medallists Episode II – John Clague & his passion for Natural Hazard
John Clague leading a 'School of Rocks' field trip for the Hope Mountain Centre for Outdoor Learning (July 2014). Photo provided by John Clague.

In today’s interview, we talk with Prof John J. Clague, who was awarded the 2020 Sergey Soloviev Medal for his remarkable scientific contributions in fundamental and applied research on earthquakes, tsunamis, outburst floods and landslides, directed towards risk reduction for the benefit of societies. Hi John, can you please briefly introduce yourself, telling your main research focus and wh ...[Read More]

How satellites measuring soil moisture provide a new understanding of rainfall patterns

February 24, 2020
How satellites measuring soil moisture provide a new understanding of rainfall patterns

Soil moisture and rainfall are the two fundamental variables in the water and energy cycle and their knowledge in many applications is crucial. For instance, for predicting the occurrence and the magnitude of flood and landslide events the knowledge of the initial soil moisture condition and of rainfall amount is mandatory. In the last decade, some authors have proposed a completely new approach, ...[Read More]