In Italy

The coloured circles represent the total number of activities (project, products and services, outreach, collaborations) that we have in the corresponding geographical zone

Map data: © OpenStreetMap contributors

Preventive evaluation of land instability hazards

The urbanisation of seismically active areas, coupled with the ongoing change in climate patterns, require a shift in the approaches to land/infrastructure instability hazard assessment and risk reduction. This is particularly relevant in seismically active regions where the recurrent damage from landsliding, subsidence and ground deformations can be widespread. Geotechnical investigations and in situ monitoring of land prone to instability are ...

From population risk perception to social vulnerability in coastal areas subject to climate change: a proposal for risk management strategies in two Mediterranean regions

Coastal areas are particularly sensitive to climate change. Because these areas have become particularly susceptible to extreme physical phenomena because of a significant increase in human pressure, climate change will cause heightened exposure and vulnerability of the population. The Authorities ought to make strong efforts to: i) take the necessary measures and actions to reduce the negative impacts of the natural phenomena on the coastal ...

Role of climate change in the morphogenesis of glacial-periglacial environments and analysis of associated risks

Climate change in the Greater Alpine Region is seriously affecting glacial and periglacial areas, especially for the presence of snow, glaciers and permafrost (cryosphere), with relevant consequences on slope stability. Cryosphere degradation, changes of the precipitation and temperature patterns and of the hydrological regimes, are some of the main terrestrial indicators of climatic change. Moreover, the increasing number of tourists and human ...

Agreement with the Ligurian Regional Agency for Environmental Protection (ARPAL)

Since 2013, CNR IRPI went in with the collection of information on rainfall events that have resulted in landslides in the Liguria region. Rainfall thresholds can be used in early warning systems for the prediction of the occurrence of rainfall-induced landslides. To respond to a request of the Italian national Department for Civil Protection (DPC), CNR IRPI designed and developed SANF, an Italian acronym for National Early Warning System for ...

Sentinels for the Territory

The knowledge of the geo-hydrological hazard of a territory and of the risk conditions for people, are essential for the implementation of civil protection activities. The monitoring activity by personnel, voluntary or not, is a strategic resource for all phases of civil ...

Hydrological monitoring and prediction of shallow landslides through remote sensing observations

Rainfall-induced shallow landslides and floods are the most common and dangerous natural hazards, mainly due to their high temporal frequency, which causes fatalities and high economic damage worldwide. Climate changes will exacerbate this critical framework since an increase in extreme weather events is ...

Landslide Smart Network

Among all types of landslide phenomena present in Alpine environment, the rockfalls are certainly the most impacting, because they also are extremely widespread. Rockfall are very difficult to monitor and they are often managed exclusively through the execution of active or passive works aimed at risk mitigation. Due to the rockfalls impulsive behavior, it is a difficult task to locate them a priori. The problem of rockfalls can be approached ...

Landslide monitoring Innovative methods and instruments

The development of new systems for monitoring of landslides is often the synthesis of geomatics and applied geology. In particular, the development of innovative low-cost systems must have a strong geomatics and technological component supported by the definition of required elements done by end users (engineering geologists). The development of low-cost monitoring systems can represent a strategic choice, above all, to guarantee an increasing ...

Regenarating ECOsystems with Nature-based solutions for hydro-meteorological risk rEduCTion

RECONECT is a Horizon 2020 project that aims to enhance the European reference framework on Nature Based Solutions (NBS) for hydro-meteorological risk reduction by demonstrating, referencing, upscaling and exploiting large-scale NBS in rural and natural areas. The Pilot site is the Portofino Natural Regional Park (Ligurian Apennines), 25 km E of Genoa. The park extends along both sides of the Promontory of Portofino, facing Tigullio and ...

Cartografia delle frane nell’area dell’invaso di Casanuova (PG)

The reservoir of Casanuova on the Chiascio river, Central Umbria, occupies an area affected by numerous landslides, already identified in the regional cartographies. However, the potential interaction between the evolution of landslides and the reservoir is not evaluable because the available landslide inventories are not updated and do not contain information on the morphological evolution over time of the slopes that drain into the reservoir. ...

Towards geohazards resilient infrastructure under changing climates

A trend of increasingly frequent intense rainfalls and changing rainfall patterns is causing a relevant number of landslides and floods affecting urban areas and engineering infrastructures such as roads, railways. Recently Transport networks across Europe experienced several failures the reasons of which are still poorly understood.. To improve the current situation, a step change in the way we design reliable and effective defence structures ...

Decree 473: early civil protection actions to cope with rainfall events that affected Calabria on November 2016 and January 2017

During about two months, two rain events that occurred in the periods 25-26 November 2016 and 22-25 January 2017 affected Calabria region, producing landslides and floods and causing huge damage on large ...

Study and monitoring activities on Arzeno landslide – Municipality of Ne (GE)

The Municipality of Ne (GE) is involved by an important landslide in the Arzeno and Prato di Reppia areas. The phenomenon is monitored using standard techniques for some years. The goals of this study is increasing the knowledge of the phenomenon using automatic monitoring ...

Hydrogeological study for the risk analysis of a landfill.

The company "Progetto Gestione Bacino Bari Cinque srl" has entrusted at the Research Institute for Geo-Hydrological Protection of the CNR the “Hydrogeological study for the risk analysis of the site where the plant of the treatment and disposal of solid urban waste of the same company is located in Contrada Martucci, municipality of Conversano ...

Partenariato di studio e documentazione a supporto dell’attività legislativa sugli Obiettivi di Sviluppo Sostenibile e focus sul geoscambio termico

The topic of low geothermal enthalpy is crucial as a strategy to mitigate and adapt to climate change. With this in mind, the structuring of environmental knowledge and information on the topic of low geothermal enthalpy in its various forms and a test site activity to deepen current knowledge on the regulatory context and on the effects on subsoil and on groundwater of geothermal plants is envisaged on a territorial ...

Geological investigations in the catchment of the Rio Kortol

Past debris flows in the Rio Kortol catchment arise concerns for the safety of the village of Sauris di Sotto, and urge new studies for the assessment of hazard and the choice of risk mitigation ...

Characterization, modelling and monitoring

The project concerns the mitigation of natural hazards (mainly the effects on the territory and the anthropic environment caused by rains, earthquakes, volcanism, and Radon gas). The geological characterization is essential to frame the contexts and the expected phenomena. Numerical modeling and monitoring allow to predict the spatio-temporal evolution of the phenomena, and therefore to evaluate the risk for mitigation ...

Progetto PON Governance

Il progetto prevede un’attività di servizio e di supporto tecnico scientifico per la realizzazione di progetti standard che affrontano i temi della pianificazione comunale di protezione civile e degli strumenti che possono rendere maggiore la sua efficacia. Il progetto propone uno schema che consente di definire, con metodologia rigorosa e omogenea, le attività da svolgere e il modo in cui svolgerle, per la realizzazione di un modello di ...

Integrated assessment of geo-hydrological instability phenomena in the Apulia region, interpretative models and definition of rainfall thresholds for landslide triggering

The Apulia region is affected by multiple types of geo-hydrological instability processes such as sinkholes, flash floods and landslides. Landsliding mainly affects the north-western sector of the Region (bordering with Apennine chain) and the sea rocky cliffs. The sub-Appennine Daunia portion of the Region is exposed to landslide risk due to hydro-geological setup of the soil/rock deposits, the poor mechanical properties of the ...

Geohazard impact assessment for urban areas

The project is focused on monitoring geohazard-associated ground deformations, a key prevention action specifically addressed to urban areas and critical infrastructures. The project will propose a procedure to produce maps to assess continuously the potential impact of geohazard activity. These maps will provide inputs to support early warning, giving information on the stability of the monitored areas and to evaluate the expected ...

Smart Monitoring of basins subject to high geohydrological risk

The R&D project SMoRI starts from two needs to be reconciled. The first, coming from the scientific community, concerns a best definition of integrated monitoring systems aimed at controlling the conditions of high geo-hydrological risk. The second need is to acquire by the industrial partners a specialized know-how on new technologies related to Cloud Computing and I.o.T. and on the environmental ...

Accordo quadro di collaborazione

RiST2, the research go on

The researches at high-elevation sites continues, thanks to the RiST2 project (co-financed by Fondazione CRT of Torino). The study area is the Bessanese glacial basin. The Alpine environment and in particular the cryosphere, is responding quickly and with great intensity to climate change. The air temperature increase observed in the Alps urge the scientific communities involved in natural instability studies to consider not only air ...

Accordo quadro di collaborazione

Rheology of geological processes

Critical and depositional friction angles are characteristic for the deposition of a granular mass; the wrong angle adoption determines the ineffectiveness of a containment basin. The term is used with different meanings and measured by various procedures. The numerical simulation is a useful tool for the hazard assessment, but the definition of friction needed parameters requires insights on their ...

STSE Water Cycle Multi-mission Observation Strategy – Irrigation

Irrigation is one of the greatest human intervention in the hydrological cycle. The knowledge of the distribution, the extent of irrigated areas and the amount of water used by irrigation is needed for different purposes: 1) modelling irrigation water requirements at the global scale, 2) assessing irrigated food production, 3) quantifying the impact of irrigation on climate, river discharge and groundwater depletion. Notwithstanding its ...

Accuracy of hydrological data for extreme events analysis and upgrade of Umbria Regional Hydrological Service’s platform

The improved understanding of the underlying physical processes of extreme events is closely linked to the development and verification of procedures to better control, analysis and validation of hydrological data for the description and visualization of meteorological events creating an operational "database of event" which enables to better identify under what conditions hazards ...

We monitor the Planpincieux Glacier, along the Italian side of the Grandes Jorasses, Aosta Valley

Glaciers are typical of the Alpine landscape, and an important source of water. Undoubtedly fascinating, glaciers are very complex and yet surprisingly poorly known. In the Alps, many studies focus on the volumetric changes of glaciers, proving their almost systematic reduction in the current climatic period. Little is known about the daily behaviour of Alpine glaciers. This is partly due to the inhospitable and not easily accessible ...

Radar remote sensing techniques for the detection and measurements of ground surface deformations

Space-borne radar interferometry or DInSAR (Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) is one of the latest techniques used for the detection and measurement of ground surface deformations caused by natural and / or man-made events. The DInSAR technique has been successfully used in the measurement of seismic deformations and of the effects of subsidence, unstable slopes and inflation of magma in volcanoes. The growth of space ...

Research and development of optical fiber sensors for geotechnical and environmental monitoring

Application of optical fibers is generally aimed at large bandwidth transmission. Few people know that the proposal of optical fibers as sensing elements is almost as old as their proposal as transmission media, and over the last two decades fibre optic sensor (FOS) technology has assumed a dominant role in several fields of application. As a matter of fact, FOSs offer many advantages with respect to legacy electronic and mechanic sensors. ...

Cooperative Internet-of-Data Rural/Alpine Community Environment

Environmental sensor monitoring is continuously developing, both in terms of quantity (i.e. measurement sites), and quality (i.e. technological innovation). Environmental monitoring is carried out by either public or private entities for their own specific purposes, such as scientific research, civil protection, support to industrial and agricultural activities, services for citizens, security, education and information. The left Cenischia ...

STRESS

The STRESS project is intended to design, implement and test a prototype of a Spatial Information Infrastructure (SII) enabling the provision to spatial planners and risk managers of new data and tools to improve hydro-geological susceptibility, hazard and impact assessment as well as to experiment alternative decision making ...

Landslides investigation and mitigation at Passo della Morte (UD)

L’area del "Passo della Morte" (UD) è interessata da una situazione di grave dissesto a causa della presenza di più movimenti franosi. Questi sono caratterizzati da elevata pericolosità in relazione alle caratteristiche intrinseche dei fenomeni  (volumetrie e velocità di spostamento), alla morfologia del versante ed alla geologia dell'area. La loro presenza mette a rischio la rete stradale che collega la Carnia con il Cadore e l’asta ...

Deep seated Gravitational Slope Deformation (DsGSD) analysis and criticalities assessment of the regional monitoring network of the landslides

The Aosta Valley region presents a landscape almost totally occupied by mountain. In this context, a number of meaningful landslides is present, which vary from rock falls to deep-seated gravitational slope deformation (DsGSD), passing for the complex landslides. The study of these phenomena, finalized to guarantee suitable standard of safety and to facilitate a compatible development, results a fundamental necessity for this ...

Large landslides: Monitoring, Modelling and Mitigation

The study of the dynamics of large landslide is a heuristic process based on the integration of multiple investigation techniques: geological and geomorphological analysis, monitoring systems (traditional and innovative) and numerical models. Risk mitigation may require major interventions that call for detailed studies on the specific ...

Monitoring of the Gollone landslide, Acceglio (CN)

The landslide monitoring represents a strategic activity, especially for those phenomena for which it is not possible (for technical or financial reasons) to realize stabilization interventions of the landslide. Nevertheless, the data acquisition is only the first part of the project, to which it is necessary to couple an on line management of the processed data and to realize monitoring ...

Qualitative and quantitative degradation risks of water resources and effects on human activities

The research topics involve the consideration of geological, geomorphological, hydrological, hydrogeological, and technology and the use of innovative methodologies to achieve the sustainability of the natural balance inherent inland waters, with a focus on groundwater and river water. Finally, we consider the effects of climate change on the hydrological cycle and anthropogenic modifications to emphasize the contribution of these modifications ...

Preserving the quality of the scientific information

Producing knowledge implies the responsibility to divulge it with quality, making it available for everyone. With the advent of the Internet the possibilities to retransmit knowledge have grown, but the danger is also grown of a deterioration of its quality, as the Nobel prize Gell-mann already denounced in the nineties. The project intends to propose solutions to this kind of problem, contributing to improve the expressive capacity of thesis ...

Flood forecasting and hydraulic risk

The project is focused on flood forecasting and hydraulic risk, i.e. the assessment of the effects of flooding in flood-prone areas also involving the vulnerability assessment of the hydraulic structures (dams, leaves, bridges, etc.). The effects of flood events are not completely eliminated by structural measures, therefore it is necessary to develop complementary non-structural measures, such as real-time Flood Forecasting and Warning ...

India, Italy & UK join for study

Articolo uscito sul quotidiano "The Telegraph - India",  del 20 gennaio 2017, riguardante la collaborazione di varie realtà di ricerca internazionali, tra cui l'IRPI CNR,  al progetto ...

E-TECH New technologies for support and prevention of emergencies

The management of natural hazards tends radically to distribute responsibilities at the local level, as the first civil protection actors. Prevention and preparedness are long-term goals, rooted in volunteer expertise, and awareness of local citizens, using solutions of "crowd-sourced mappers". The objective is designing mobile applications, sensors and dashboard for citizens and volunteers of civil protection, with pilot study cases selected ...

Kinematic of debris flows using Large Scale Particle Image Velocimetry (LSPIV)

Usually the video cameras installed within a debris-flow monitoring site have the role of recording videos to better understand the behavior of the event for an improved interpretation of its dynamic. The use of such cameras for Image Velocimetry purpose is still nowadays a ...

Geomorphometry and sediment dynamics in mountain catchments

The aim of the geomorphometric analysis is to derive indices capable of characterizing the spatial variability of specific hydro-geomorphological processes (e.g., sediment connectivity, erosion and deposit). The growing availability of high-resolution topographic data has increased the interest in geomorphometry and its applications. Debris-flow monitoring in instrumented areas and flash-flood documentation are invaluable ways to gather field ...

Safe Landscapes: prevention and adaptation strategies

The project aims at defining the type of expected natural hazards, the modeling approaches relevant for their evaluation, and possible monitoring tools in specific areas prone to landslide risk within the "UNESCO site Portovenere, Cinque Terre and the Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto)" along the "Blue Trail" from Monterosso through ...

Sino-Italian Joint Laboratory on Geological and Hydrological Hazards

Both China and Italy are characterized by large mountainous areas, where natural hazards (e.g., geological and hydrological hazards such as debris flows, landsides, flash floods) are widespread and seriously threatening local society. It is noted that, almost 67% and 76% of the territories are covered by mountains in China and Italy, respectively and the youngest chains in the Eurasia, namely the Alps and the Tibetan Plateau, are characterized ...

Agreement with the Autonomous Region of Sardinia

In Italy, landslides are triggered by intense and/or prolonged rainfall. The spatial and temporal forecast of multiple landslides triggered by rainfall in wide areas relies primarily on empirical rainfall thresholds. It is widely believed that the thresholds are influenced by the local topographic (morphological), lithological, soil, and climatic settings. For this reason, it is necessary to define local rainfall thresholds. Reliable local ...

Moscardo Torrent – rainfall data and debris flow hydrographs

This dataset consists of rainfall data and debris-flow hydrographs recorded in the Moscardo Torrent (Carnic Alps, northeastern Italy). The Moscardo Torrent was instrumented for debris-flow monitoring by CNR IRPI (Torino office) in 1989; the research was then continued in collaboration with the Padova office. Since 2010 the monitoring activities are carried on in collaboration with the University of Udine (Dept. of Agricultural and ...

Hazard of alluvial fans

In international literature, it is now widely recognized that alluvial fans are areas of high geomorphic activity. Debris flows and flash floods occur episodically in these environments, and place many communities at high risk. Calabria (southern Italy) is a region where alluvial fans widely occur. In this region, the presence of mountain fronts/alluvial and/or coastal plain, or deep and narrow valleys debouching into larger valleys are key ...

Pilot Project “Mitigation of the desertification processes in Calabria, in areas with a very high vulnerability”

Calabria is part of the 27% of the Italian territory deemed at desertification risk from the Plan of the National Area with Puglia, Sicilia and Sardegna. This project had a realization in an area called Valle dell’Esaro, close to Crotone, that is an area with high desertification risk. In fact, this area for its soil, climate, morphology characteristics and for the agricultural procedures represents the best site to test a model of good ...

Identification and estimation of the parameters for assessing the risk of desertification

The Calabria region, because of its climatic, geomorphological and anthropic characteristics, is one of the regions most exposed to the risk of desertification in the Mediterranean basin. Methods already known in the literature and new approaches were applied at a basin scale on an area of the Ionian side, that, for rainfall and climatic characteristics, is one of the most exposed to this ...