Water vapour accumulation mechanisms in the Western Mediterranean Basin and the development of European extreme rainfalls

Oleaga, Estibaliz Saez de Camara; Gangoiti, Gotzon; Alonso, Lucio; Muñoz, Marino Navazo; Gómez, Nelson Romero; Iza, J.; García, José María González; Garmendia, Juan Luis Ilardia; Muñoz, Millán Millán

doi:10.3369/tethys.2011.8.10

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 27 publications

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“…These works are largely expensive but are now essential to reduce risk in a situation in which anthropogenic modification almost saturated all the available spaces in the floodplain, as has occurred in all the small urban catchments examined in the present study. Risk reduction would require a holistic approach at the catchment scale, considering all the processes acting on the catchment and their mutual relationships and trying to address all the problems, considering that what happens along the slopes influences even the lowest portion of the catchment itself (Samuels et al, 2006;Blöschl et al, 2013). Moreover, the cost of interventions along the slopes usually impacts the economy significantly less than structural works do.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A spatial multicriteria prioritizing approach for geo-hydrological risk mitigation planning in small and densely urbanized Mediterranean basins

Paliaga

Faccini

Luino

et al. 2019

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Landslides and floods, particularly flash floods, occurred recently in many Mediterranean catchments as a consequence of heavy rainfall events, causing damage and sometimes casualties. The high hazard is often associated with high vulnerability deriving from intense urbanization, in particular along the coastline where streams are habitually culverted. The necessary risk mitigation strategies should be applied at the catchment scale with a holistic approach, avoiding spot interventions.In the present work, a high-risk area, hit in the past by several floods and concurrent superficial landslides due to extremely localized and intense rain events, has been studied. A total of 21 small catchments have been identified: only some of them have been hit by extremely damaging past events, but all lie in the intense-rain high-hazard area and are strongly urbanized in the lower coastal zone. The question is what would happen if an intense rain event should strike one of the not previously hit catchments; some situations could be worse or not, so attention has been focused on the comparison among catchments. The aim of the research has been identifying a priority scale among catchments, pointing out the more critical ones and giving a quantitative comparison tool for decision makers to support strong scheduling of long-time planning interventions at the catchment scale. The past events' effects and the geomorphic process analysis together with the field survey allowed us to select three sets of parameters: one describing the morphometricmorphological features related to flood and landslide hazard, another describing the degree of urbanization and of anthropogenic modifications at the catchment scale and the last related to the elements that are exposed to risk. The real-ized geodatabase allowed us to apply the spatial multicriteria analysis technique (S-MCA) to the descriptive parameters and to obtain a priority scale among the analyzed catchments. The scale can be used to plan risk mitigation interventions starting from the more critical catchments, then focusing economic resources primarily on them and obtaining an effective prevention strategy. The methodology could be useful even to check how the priority scale is modified during the progress of the mitigation work realization.In addition, this approach could be applied in a similar context, even among sub-catchments, after identifying a suitable set of descriptive parameters depending on the active geomorphological processes and the kind of anthropogenic modification. The prioritization would allow to invest economic resources in risk mitigation interventions priory in the more critical catchments.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A spatial multicriteria prioritizing approach for geo-hydrological risk mitigation planning in small and densely urbanized Mediterranean basins

Paliaga

Faccini

Luino

et al. 2019

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Geohydrological hazards and urban development in the Mediterranean area: an example from Genoa (Liguria, Italy)

Faccini

Luino

Sacchini

et al. 2015

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. The metropolitan area and the city of Genoa has become a national and international case study for geohydrological risk, mainly due to the frequency of floods. In 2014, there were landslides again, as well as flash floods that have particularly caused casualties and economic damage. The weather features of the Gulf of Genoa and the geomorphological-environmental setting of the Ligurian coastal land are the predisposing factors that determine heavy rains and their resulting effects on the ground.This study analysed the characteristics of the main meteorological disasters that have hit Genoa since the start of the 20th century; changes in the rainfall regime are evaluated and the main stages of urbanization of the area are detailed, with the resulting changes to the drainage network, in order to identify the main causes of this high geohydrological risk. To this end, scientists have used climate data recorded at the station of Genoa University, in operation since 1833, and at Ponte Carrega station, located in the middle reach of the Bisagno stream, a well-known watercourse because of its frequent floods. Urban sprawl was evaluated through a multi-temporal mapping comparison, using maps available from the beginning of the 19th century up to the current regional technical maps.The average air temperature in Genoa shows a statistically significant increase, while the number of rainy days displays an equally clear decrease over time. The total annual rain value does not seem to indicate rather noticeable changes. The intensity of rain in Genoa expressed as rainfall rate, i.e. the ratio of annual rainfall and number of rainy days, shows statistically significant growth.The geohydrological vulnerability in Genoa has increased over time due to urban development which has established modifications in land use, from agricultural to urban, especially in the valley floor. Waterways have been confined and reduced to artificial channels, often covered in their final stretch; in some cases they have even been totally removed. These actions should be at least partially reversed in order to reduce the presently high hydrological risk.

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Geo-hydrological hazard and urban development in the Mediterranean area: an example from Genoa City (Italy)

Faccini¹,

Luino²,

Sacchini³

et al. 2015

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Abstract. The Ligurian area has always suffered from significant geo-hydrological events causing casualties and serious damage. The atmospheric circulation in autumn and winter coupled with landform peculiarities are the main causes this hazard becoming a risk to human life, structures, and infrastructures. Genoa city and the surrounding metropolitan area are commonly subject to heavy rainfall that induces violent flash floods and many shallow landslides. The most recent rainfall events occurred on 9–10 October and 15 November 2014, again causing loss of human lives and widespread damage. A troubling trend since the beginning of the new century, is the recurrence of such events with greater frequency than in the past. The city of Genoa serves as a very interesting case-study for geo-hydrological risks. Cloudbursts of few hours seem to have a rainfall intensity basically greater than in the past; that causes increase of hydrometric levels of the watercourses that quickly reach alarming values close to the overflowing. This meteorological factor, added to growing urbanization of the valley floors and slopes located north of Genoa, has inevitably produced a general trend of increasing risk for the city. Urbanization is particularly notable for the narrowing process in all cross-sections of Genoa's watercourses, both in the main ones and in the secondary streams that flow directly into the Gulf of Genoa. The narrowing of the sections resulted from the increasing demand for new spaces owing to both industrial development (which started initially at the coastal areas of Genoa), and the growth of the Genoa population. The number of inhabitants grew from fewer than 200 000 at the beginning of the 19th century tool a peak of over 800 000 in the 1970s modifying the water balance of the basins and increasing the geo-hydrological risk in an unacceptable way. Among the important topics analyzed in this paper are: (i) the meteorological characteristics of these events, (ii) the changes in the rate of daily precipitation, and (iii) the most significant periods of the urban land development determining important changes of the territory above all on the hydrographic network.

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Water vapour accumulation mechanisms in the Western Mediterranean Basin and the development of European extreme rainfalls

Cited by 3 publications

References 27 publications

A spatial multicriteria prioritizing approach for geo-hydrological risk mitigation planning in small and densely urbanized Mediterranean basins

A spatial multicriteria prioritizing approach for geo-hydrological risk mitigation planning in small and densely urbanized Mediterranean basins

Geohydrological hazards and urban development in the Mediterranean area: an example from Genoa (Liguria, Italy)

Geo-hydrological hazard and urban development in the Mediterranean area: an example from Genoa City (Italy)

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