NH
Natural Hazards

Natural hazard

Lessons learnt, and to be learnt from the Uttarakhand, Himalaya 2021 catastrophic event.

June 14, 2021
Lessons learnt, and to be learnt from the Uttarakhand, Himalaya 2021 catastrophic event.

Rising global temperature and melting of glaciers in the Himalaya are changing the Himalayan cryospheric dynamics and causing a dramatic increase in the frequency and magnitude of the natural and anthropogenic hazards. One such example was the 7th February 2021 Uttarakhand landslide-induced floods, which killed almost 200 people and washed away two hydropower dams, amidst when India was dealing wi ...[Read More]

Mitigating Soil Erosion After Wildfires

and May 31, 2021
Mitigating Soil Erosion After Wildfires

Wildfires are a natural element in many ecosystems and play a central role in their dynamics. For example, they clear forest floors and liberate nutrients that can replenish the soil. However, changes in fire regimes induced by anthropogenic factors (such as climate change and land uses) have resulted in fire patterns that harm ecosystems [1]. Let’s see together the issues and the mitigation solut ...[Read More]

LANDAWARE: the international network on landslide early warning systems

May 17, 2021
LANDAWARE: the international network on landslide early warning systems

For today’s interview, it gives me great pleasure to host Dr Manfred Stähli, who will tell us about a new initiative in the field of Landslide Early Warning Systems (LEWS), which is attracting the attention and participation of researchers from many countries. This initiative is called LandAware. Manfred is a senior scientist in mountain hydrology, slope stability and early warning systems a ...[Read More]

Diagnosing drought in northeast Brazil

and May 3, 2021
A dam, an almost empty water reservoir and a small abandoned boat

Worldwide, drought has put lives and livelihoods under serious threat. People are increasingly suffering from drought, but we often also aggravate drought ourselves. Fortunately, solutions to drought problems are mainly in our own hands as well. Drought is not just a water problem. It is a societal problem.   Droughts: a local problem with global relevance In recent years, droughts seem to be ...[Read More]

#vEGU21: Gather Online – Get ready for the Natural Hazards and ECS activities

April 16, 2021
#vEGU21: Gather Online – Get ready for the Natural Hazards and ECS activities

Have you heard the news? The next EGU’s General Assembly is starting on Monday, and this year it will last for two weeks!!! And yes, as you may have guessed, with the Covid-19 pandemic continuing to have a considerable impact on face-to-face scientific meetings throughout the world, EGU 2021 will be entirely virtual. And that’s not all. We will have the ability to interact with each ot ...[Read More]

Tackling the leaks in the transport network with Maria Pregnolato

April 6, 2021
Tackling the leaks in the transport network with Maria Pregnolato

Transport networks are crucial to our lives, from commuting to work to reach health care facilities, from the transport of goods to leisure travelling. To quote Robin Chase, an American transport entrepreneur: “Transportation is […] the glue of our daily lives. When it goes well, we don’t see it. When it goes wrong, it negatively colours our day, makes us feel angry and impotent, curta ...[Read More]

From caves explorer to landslides scientist: Fausto Guzzetti 2021 Soloviev Medal

March 8, 2021
From caves explorer to landslides scientist: Fausto Guzzetti 2021 Soloviev Medal

Dr Fausto Guzzetti, current Research Director of the National Research Council (CNR) in Italy, has been awarded the 2021 Sergey Soloviev Medal for “his fundamental contributions to the field of natural hazards and his remarkable efforts to link the scientific community and civil protection authorities to mitigate risk for exposed populations”. From his passion for mountains and caves and his “hope ...[Read More]

2020: The escalation of extreme rainfall events in Brazil

February 22, 2021
2020: The escalation of extreme rainfall events in Brazil

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

January 25, 2021
Advances in earthquakes forecasting pass through machine learning

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?

December 21, 2020
Climate Change: is Viticulture under threat?

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]