Analysis of heavy-rainfall-induced fast soil erosion: examples the NE Abruzzo clayey hills (Central Italy)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincenzo Marsala ◽  
Tommaso Piacentini ◽  
Alberto Galli
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Heavy Rainfall ◽  
Rainfall Intensity ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
Landscape Changes ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Cumulative Rainfall ◽  
Heavy Soil ◽  
Heavy Rainfall Events

<p>Soil erosion induced by heavy rainfall deeply affects landscape changes and human activities. It depends on rainfall distribution (e.g., intensity, duration, cumulative) and is controlled by the interaction among several factors including lithology, orography, hydrography, land-use, and vegetation. The Abruzzo piedmont-coastal area features a clayey hilly landscape that is historically affected by heavy rainfalls. In the last decades, it was affected by several heavy rainfall events in close sequence. In this work, we investigated some~1-day heavy rainfall (>35 mm/h and 100-220 mm/d) events occurred in 2007, 2011, and 2012 that affected the clayey hilly-coastal NE Abruzzo area. We analyzed cumulative rainfall, intensity and duration, mapping triggered geomorphological effects (soil erosion and accumulation) and evaluating average erosion.</p><p>The analysis provides contributions to the soil erosion assessment on clayey landscapes that characterizes the Adriatic hilly area, to the estimation of rainfall triggering thresholds for heavy soil erosion, and to a comparison of erosion in single events with rates known in the Mediterranean area. Comparing the different areas and cases investigated, the triggering threshold for heavy soil erosion shows an expected value ~100–110 mm. The estimated average soil erosion is from moderate to high (0.08–3.08 cm in ~1-day heavy rainfall events). The investigated relationships show a good correlation of sol erosion with cumulative rainfall, which results to be the most effective triggering factor, and a poor correlation with peak rainfall intensity. Finally, this work outlines the strong impact of soil erosion on the landscape changes in clayey hilly landscapes largely present in Mediterranean environments, such as in the Abruzzo and Adriatic hilly areas.</p>

scholarly journals Analysis of Soil Erosion Induced by Heavy Rainfall: A Case Study from the NE Abruzzo Hills Area in Central Italy

Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tommaso Piacentini ◽  
Alberto Galli ◽  
Vincenzo Marsala ◽  
Enrico Miccadei
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Heavy Rainfall ◽  
Rainfall Intensity ◽  
Strong Impact ◽  
Landscape Changes ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Hilly Area ◽  
Cumulative Rainfall ◽  
Heavy Soil ◽  
Heavy Rainfall Events

Soil erosion induced by heavy rainfall deeply affects landscape changes and human activities. It depends on rainfall distribution (e.g., intensity, duration, cumulative per event) and is controlled by the interactions between lithology, orography, hydrography, land use, and vegetation. The Abruzzo piedmont coastal hilly area has been affected by several heavy rainfall events in the last decades. In this work, we investigated three ~1-day heavy rainfall (>35 mm/h and 100–220 mm/day) events in 2007, 2011, and 2012 that occurred in the clayey hilly coastal NE Abruzzo area, analyzing cumulative rainfall, intensity, and duration while mapping triggered geomorphological effects (soil erosion and accumulation) and evaluating average erosion. The analysis provides contributions to a soil erosion assessment of clayey landscapes that characterizes the Adriatic hilly area, with an estimation of rainfall-triggering thresholds for heavy soil erosion and a comparison of erosion in single events with rates known in the Mediterranean area. The triggering threshold for heavy soil erosion shows an expected value of ~100–110 mm. The estimated average soil erosion is from moderate to high (0.08–3.08 cm in ~1-day heavy rainfall events) and shows a good correlation with cumulative rainfall and a poor correlation with peak rainfall intensity. This work outlines the strong impact of soil erosion on the landscape changes in the Abruzzo and Adriatic hilly areas.

Geomorphologically based early warning system for flood events in minor hilly catchments and local urban areas: a case study in the Abruzzo region (Central Italy)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tommaso Piacentini ◽  
Enrico Miccadei ◽  
Cristiano Carabella ◽  
Fausto Boccabella ◽  
Silvia Ferrante ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Warning ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Early Warning System ◽  
Heavy Rainfall ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Civil Protection ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Critical Areas ◽  
Heavy Rainfall Events

<p>Urban and small catchments flooding is a common type of natural hazard caused by intense rainfall, which may cause inundation to roads, buildings, and infrastructure, interrupting transportation, power lines and, other critical urban infrastructure systems, damaging properties and threatening people’s lives. The expansion of urban areas and infrastructure over the last 50 years has led to a marked increase in flood risk.</p><p>The coastal and hilly areas of Central Italy have been largely affected by heavy rainfall and flood/flash-flood events in recent times. The Apennine hilly piedmont and the coastal hills of Abruzzo have been affected by moderate to heavy events (rainfall >35 mm/h and 100-220 mm/d), which caused damages to minor and major urban areas. In this study, the Feltrino Stream area and the Lanciano town were investigated for the realization of a local early warning system for heavy rainfall events and flooding. The project is funded by the Abruzzo Region within the frame of a regional Project named “Communicate to protect” and developed in collaboration with the Lanciano Municipality and with the Regional Civil Protection office.</p><p>The Feltrino Stream basin is located in the hilly area of southeastern Abruzzo, in the eastern piedmont of the Maiella massif (Central Apennines). The basin ranges from about 400 m a.s.l. to sea level, with an overall morphology characterized by a mesa and plateau relief and SW-NE elongated valleys. The Lanciano Town is developed on a mesa relief carved by minor valleys, largely modified and filled by anthropic activities.</p><p>In this work, the Feltrino Stream was investigated through a drainage basin scale geomorphological analysis incorporating (i) the morphometry of orography and hydrography, (ii) temperature and rainfall data analysis, (iii) acquisition of available geological, geomorphological, and hazard data, (iv) detail urban hydrography analysis and geomorphological field mapping, for the definition of a geodatabase of the geo-hydrological critical areas. The analysis allowed defining the arrangement of a rainfall, hydrometry and flood monitoring system integrating at local scale the existing regional monitoring network. The integration of the monitoring system and the critical areas in a web cloud digital system allowed to plan and realize an early warning system, based on the use of a digital app for smartphone. The warning system is being calibrated for the effectiveness during heavy rainfall events. After calibration, the system will support the local civil protection activities of the Lanciano Municipality. Moreover, under the supervision of the civil protection responsible, it is expected to be implemented as an automatic system for smartphone-based early warning of people exploiting the inbuilt geolocalization features of the recent smartphone.</p>

scholarly journals Projected changes of rainfall event characteristics for the Czech Republic

2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 415-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vojtěch Svoboda ◽  
Martin Hanel ◽  
Petr Máca ◽  
Jan Kyselý
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Heavy Rainfall ◽  
Rainfall Intensity ◽  
Extreme Values ◽  
Rainfall Event ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Precipitation Total ◽  
Projected Changes ◽  
Heavy Rainfall Events

Abstract Projected changes of warm season (May–September) rainfall events in an ensemble of 30 regional climate model (RCM) simulations are assessed for the Czech Republic. Individual rainfall events are identified using the concept of minimum inter-event time and only heavy events are considered. The changes of rainfall event characteristics are evaluated between the control (1981–2000) and two scenario (2020–2049 and 2070–2099) periods. Despite a consistent decrease in the number of heavy rainfall events, there is a large uncertainty in projected changes in seasonal precipitation total due to heavy events. Most considered characteristics (rainfall event depth, mean rainfall rate, maximum 60-min rainfall intensity and indicators of rainfall event erosivity) are projected to increase and larger increases appear for more extreme values. Only rainfall event duration slightly decreases in the more distant scenario period according to the RCM simulations. As a consequence, the number of less extreme heavy rainfall events as well as the number of long events decreases in majority of the RCM simulations. Changes in most event characteristics (and especially in characteristics related to the rainfall intensity) depend on changes in radiative forcing and temperature for the future periods. Only changes in the number of events and seasonal total due to heavy events depend significantly on altitude.

scholarly journals Extreme Floods in the Eastern Part of Europe: Large-Scale Drivers and Associated Impacts

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 1122
Author(s):  
Monica Ionita ◽  
Viorica Nagavciuc
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapor ◽  
Heavy Rainfall ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Vapor Transport ◽  
Water Vapor Transport ◽  
Flood Events ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Catchment Areas ◽  
Large Scale Atmospheric Circulation ◽  
Heavy Rainfall Events

The role of the large-scale atmospheric circulation in producing heavy rainfall events and floods in the eastern part of Europe, with a special focus on the Siret and Prut catchment areas (Romania), is analyzed in this study. Moreover, a detailed analysis of the socio-economic impacts of the most extreme flood events (e.g., July 2008, June–July 2010, and June 2020) is given. Analysis of the largest flood events indicates that the flood peaks have been preceded up to 6 days in advance by intrusions of high Potential Vorticity (PV) anomalies toward the southeastern part of Europe, persistent cut-off lows over the analyzed region, and increased water vapor transport over the catchment areas of Siret and Prut Rivers. The vertically integrated water vapor transport prior to the flood peak exceeds 300 kg m−1 s−1, leading to heavy rainfall events. We also show that the implementation of the Flood Management Plan in Romania had positive results during the 2020 flood event compared with the other flood events, when the authorities took several precaution measurements that mitigated in a better way the socio-economic impact and risks of the flood event. The results presented in this study offer new insights regarding the importance of large-scale atmospheric circulation and water vapor transport as drivers of extreme flooding in the eastern part of Europe and could lead to a better flood forecast and flood risk management.

scholarly journals Mesoscale Analysis of Heavy Rainfall Episodes from SoWMEX/TiMREX

2012 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 521-537 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher A. Davis ◽  
Wen-Chau Lee
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Rainfall ◽  
Southwest Monsoon ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Mesoscale Analysis ◽  
Mesoscale Structure ◽  
Profound Influence ◽  
Moist Condition ◽  
Virtual Temperature ◽  
Convection Initiation ◽  
Heavy Rainfall Events

Abstract The authors analyze the mesoscale structure accompanying two multiday periods of heavy rainfall during the Southwest Monsoon Experiment and the Terrain-Induced Mesoscale Rainfall Experiment conducted over and near Taiwan during May and June 2008. Each period is about 5–6 days long with episodic heavy rainfall events within. These events are shown to correspond primarily to periods when well-defined frontal boundaries are established near the coast. The boundaries are typically 1 km deep or less and feature contrasts of virtual temperature of only 2°–3°C. Yet, owing to the extremely moist condition of the upstream conditionally unstable air, these boundaries appear to exert a profound influence on convection initiation or intensification near the coast. Furthermore, the boundaries, once established, are long lived, possibly reinforced through cool downdrafts and prolonged by the absence of diurnal heating over land in generally cloudy conditions. These boundaries are linked phenomenologically with coastal fronts that occur at higher latitudes.

scholarly journals An Improved Weighting Method of Time-Lag-Ensemble Averaging for Hourly Precipitation Forecasts and Its Application in a Typhoon-Induced Heavy Rainfall Event

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 875
Author(s):  
Li Zhou ◽  
Lin Xu ◽  
Mingcai Lan ◽  
Jingjing Chen
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Rainfall ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Probability Of Detection ◽  
Precipitation Forecast ◽  
Ensemble Averaging ◽  
Weighting Method ◽  
Prediction Ability ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Hourly Precipitation ◽  
Heavy Rainfall Events

Heavy rainfall events often cause great societal and economic impacts. The prediction ability of traditional extrapolation techniques decreases rapidly with the increase in the lead time. Moreover, deficiencies of high-resolution numerical models and high-frequency data assimilation will increase the prediction uncertainty. To address these shortcomings, based on the hourly precipitation prediction of Global/Regional Assimilation and Prediction System-Cycle of Hourly Assimilation and Forecast (GRAPES-CHAF) and Shanghai Meteorological Service-WRF ADAS Rapid Refresh System (SMS-WARR), we present an improved weighting method of time-lag-ensemble averaging for hourly precipitation forecast which gives more weight to heavy rainfall and can quickly select the optimal ensemble members for forecasting. In addition, by using the cross-magnitude weight (CMW) method, mean absolute error (MAE), root mean square error (RMSE) and correlation coefficient (CC), the verification results of hourly precipitation forecast for next six hours in Hunan Province during the 2019 typhoon Bailu case and heavy rainfall events from April to September in 2020 show that the revised forecast method can more accurately capture the characteristics of the hourly short-range precipitation forecast and improve the forecast accuracy and the probability of detection of heavy rainfall.

Diverse synoptic weather patterns of warm-season heavy rainfall events in South Korea

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chanil Park ◽  
Seok-Woo Son ◽  
Joowan Kim ◽  
Eun-Chul Chang ◽  
Jung-Hoon Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North Pacific ◽  
Moisture Transport ◽  
Heavy Rainfall ◽  
Eastern China ◽  
Warm Season ◽  
Sea Level Pressure ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Weather Patterns ◽  
Synoptic Weather ◽  
Heavy Rainfall Events

AbstractThis study identifies diverse synoptic weather patterns of warm-season heavy rainfall events (HREs) in South Korea. The HREs not directly connected to tropical cyclones (TCs) (81.1%) are typically associated with a midlatitude cyclone from eastern China, the expanded North Pacific high and strong southwesterly moisture transport in between. They are frequent both in the first (early summer) and second rainy periods (late summer) with impacts on the south coast and west of the mountainous region. In contrast, the HREs resulting from TCs (18.9%) are caused by the synergetic interaction between the TC and meandering midlatitude flow, especially in the second rainy period. The strong south-southeasterly moisture transport makes the southern and eastern coastal regions prone to the TC-driven HREs. By applying a self-organizing map algorithm to the non-TC HREs, their surface weather patterns are further classified into six clusters. Clusters 1 and 3 exhibit frontal boundary between the low and high with differing relative strengths. Clusters 2 and 5 feature an extratropical cyclone migrating from eastern China under different background sea-level pressure patterns. Cluster 4 is characterized by the expanded North Pacific high with no organized negative sea-level pressure anomaly, and cluster 6 displays a development of a moisture pathway between the continental and oceanic highs. Each cluster exhibits a distinct spatio-temporal occurrence distribution. The result provides useful guidance for predicting the HREs by depicting important factors to be differently considered depending on their synoptic categorization.

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