NH
Natural Hazards

Soil erosion

Mitigating Soil Erosion After Wildfires

and May 31, 2021
Mitigating Soil Erosion After Wildfires
2020 Sobral de São Miguel wildfire (Serra da Estrela, Portugal). Credit: Diana Vieira

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]

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]