Natural hazard

2020: The escalation of extreme rainfall events in Brazil

Paulo Hader February 22, 2021

Figure 1. A localized typical summer rainfall near the Serra do Mar in the region of Baixada Santista. Photo credit: Marcelo Fischer Gramani, with permission.

In summer 2020, extreme rainfall events dumped up to 320 mm of rain in a single day in the Baixada Santista metropolitan region, São Paulo state, breaking Brazil’s record for the biggest rainfall in a single event and demonstrating one of the greatest threats of climate change. The damage caused by the associated landslides led to dozens of fatalities and hundreds of homeless people, as well ...[Read More]

Advances in earthquakes forecasting pass through machine learning

Gabriele Amato January 25, 2021

image edited from https://www.information-age.com/how-kubernetes-extends-machine-learning-ml-123492360/

In today’s interview, we meet Dr Fabio Corbi, a researcher at IGAG-CNR, the Institute of Environmental Geology and Geoengineering of the Italian National Research Council. Fabio has experience in analogue modelling of megathrust earthquakes and he is currently exploring the potentiality of machine learning in this research field. Hi Fabio, would you briefly tell us about you and your career? ...[Read More]

Climate Change: is Viticulture under threat?

Paolo Tarolli December 21, 2020

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]

A look into the life of a volcanologist in Japan, one of the most hazardous countries for volcanoes

Shreya Arora December 7, 2020

Microscopic rock art. Chemical and textural features of olivine (ol) and orthopyroxene (opx) crystals in a lava flow from Ruapehu are revealed in these backscattered electrons (BSE) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) images. On the left, the grayscale intensity reflects the iron and magnesium contents of the minerals (brighter = higher iron (Fe); darker = higher magnesium (Mg)). On the right, unique colours correspond to the different orientations of the crystals in this cluster. Photo Credit: Chris Conway.

In this interview, I talk with Chris Conway about his experience as a volcanologist in Japan, which is one of the countries with the highest volcanic threat in the world. You will read how studying crystals found within erupted lava flows can help hazard mitigation at active volcanoes and how volcanic hazard is managed in Japan. Hi Chris!! Thank you for accepting this interview, first and foremo ...[Read More]