Theme: Climate change

I-CHANGE project

The documented effects of climate change and environmental degradation are a threat to human societies on European and global scales. Climate change may have an impact on water availability, may increase the threat of flooding and flash-floods, and will challenge coastal regions due to rising sea levels. All this will have impacts on the economy and society. The role of citizens and their skills become important both in limiting human impacts ...

Effects of climate change on landslides

Worldwide, landslides pose a serious threat to the population, causing fatalities, widespread damages, and significant economic losses. Different phenomena influence the stability of slopes and can cause landslides, among which the main factor is rainfall. Rainfall is strongly controlled and influenced by climate and its variations. Therefore, it is to be expected that climate changes influence slope stability at different temporal and ...

The strong retreat of the Italian glaciers

Between the late 19th and early 21st century, in the Alps the average air temperature has increased by about 2 °C, more than twice the increase in temperature in the northern hemisphere, of 0.8 °C. In the same period, precipitation showed a tendency towards an increase in the northern part of the Alps, and a tendency towards a decrease in the southern sector of the Alps. Since the end of the Little Ice Age (about 1850), glaciers in the ...

Droughts, desertification and climate change in Calabria, Southern Italy

Using long-term rainfall records obtained by the rain gauge network of the former Italian Hydrographic Service, in cooperation with colleagues in other CNR Institutes (ISAC and ISAFOM), we have studied the changes in the rainfall regimes in Calabria, Southern Italy. Applying appropriate statistical methods, we checked the completeness of the historical records, verifying consistency and missing values in the records. We used the obtained ...

Earth observation and climate change

The OT4CLIMA project moves from the awareness that the impacts of climate change on the environment need to be better observed, understood, and modelled, especially at the local and regional scale, in order to put in place appropriate and effective risk mitigation ...

Progetto ADAPT

The ADAPT project, co-funded by the Interreg Italy-France Maritime Program 2014-2020, aims to adapt the Italian and French cities of the Upper Tyrrhenian to the consequences of climate change, with particular reference to the urban flash floods caused by intense meteorological ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Integrated approach for the development across Europe of user oriented climate indicators for GFCS high-priority sectors: agriculture, disaster risk reduction, energy, health, water and tourism

Climate change strongly impacts the whole European territory. Drought severely affects agriculture; precipitation extremes are associated with flooding, severe damage to properties and lives; temperature extremes can increase mortality; the seasonality and availability of snow affects water resources and winter tourism; wind speed or sunshine hours affect the production of renewable energy. These relations can be studied through the computation ...

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 ...

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 ...

Missiaga catchment – hydrometeorological data (1983-2000)

The dataset includes precipitation, temperature and discharge data recorded in the Missiaga catchment (Dolomites). The Missiaga catchment was monitored by CNR IRPI from 1983 to ...

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 ...

RiST project: Scientific and Technological research in the Bessanese glacial basin (Balme, NW Italian Alps)

The Alpine environment, and in particular the high-altitude one, is responding quickly and with great intensity to climate change, through evidences of geomorphological, hydrological and ecological type. Mountain glacier shrinkage and related outcropping of rock walls and debris, changes of the precipitation and temperature patterns, are some of the main terrestrial indicators of climatic ...

SLOPES

This project is embedded within the framework of the three Ny-Ålesund flagships: ‘Kongsfjorden system’, ‘Glaciology’ and ‘Terrestrial system’. The study of slopes and landscape modifications under a changing climate, is needed to understand the dynamic interaction between the cryosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere and biosphere, and how geosuccession and biosuccession (colonisation) processes develop over time. Records of landscape ...

Climate change impact on extreme events

The service analyzes the climate change impact on the main hydro-meteorological variables involved in the hydrological cycle and, in particular, on extreme events of rainfall and discharge (droughts and floods). The service allows to evaluate the combined effects of natural and human processes related to climate change on surface runoff and groundwater, analyzing the possible consequences of such effects on the strategic water ...

Siccità E Cambiamenti cLImatici

SECLI Project is aimed to assess the combined effects of processes related to natural and anthropogenic climate change on water resources, both surface and groundwater, in the Umbrian territory, identifying the possible consequences of such effects on drinking water policy, and on how these may affect the existing system of withdrawals and ...

RelationsHips between meteo-climAtic paraMeters and ground surface deforMation time sEries in mountain enviRonments

There is a systematic lack of information on the effects of the climate and environmental changes on the frequency and the intensity of landslides and their triggering phenomena (Huggel et al., 2012). The problem is particular severe in mountain area, where natural and human-driven climatic and environmental changes may alter significantly the frequency and the intensity of the slope processes, with largely unknown short and long-term effects ...

Spatial-temporal evolution of glacial resources in the Italian Alps over the last 100 years

Glaciers are widely recognized as the best terrestrial indicator of climate change. Nevertheless, occurred changes, even in recent times, are often poorly known. Italy has a unique, secular history of glaciological documentation that, jointly with a rich wealth of spatial, multitemporal data, allows an accurate reconstruction of recent glacier evolution. Unfortunately, these data are dispersed and/or difficult to ...

Climate change on slope failures initiation in the Italian Alps

Climate change in the Greater Alpine Region is seriously affecting glacial and periglacial areas, 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 activities rise the level of ...

Glacial hazards in the western Alps

The project is included in Operative Program of the European cross-border territorial cooperation "Alcotra 2007-2013". It brings together specialized scientific expertise Italian and French that deal to study the mountain and its dangerousness. It is divided into a part of studies conducted on the entire framework of the Western Alps and in actions on the pilot sites identified by the ...

Long-term Permafrost Monitoring Network

Permafrost is very sensitive to climate change and the risks associated with its degradation affect traffic routes, settlements and infrastructure. Data on the distribution of permafrost are inconsistent and there is no common strategy to tackle this problem. Local administrators should have the means to manage the risks associated with the degradation of the ...

Responding to the risks from climate change

‘Response’ (or ‘Responding to the risks from climate change’) is a three-year Project supported by the LIFE financial instrument of the European Community, completed in December 2006. The Project provides a framework for understanding and preparing for the impacts of climate change around the European ...