NEWS received from
Vito Tagarelli (Polytechnic University of Bari, Italy)
A new paper entitled “Weather-Induced Landslide Activity in Clayey Slopes: Modeling for the Design of Site-Scale Early Warning Systems”, has just appeared in the ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering.
The paper explores how soil–vegetation–atmosphere (SVA) interactions control landslide activity in clayey slopes. Drawing on long-term field monitoring and advanced numerical modelling, we show how SVA processes influence pore-water pressures and slope stability, driving both shallow and deep landslides.
This work enabled us to identify effective indicators and precursors—such as pore-pressure patterns and cumulative rainfall thresholds—which may support their integration into landslide early warning systems (LEWS).
The results suggest that a new paradigm for designing LEWS is possible, emphasising the importance of phenomenological and numerical diagnosis of site-specific landslide processes. The framework we propose is applicable to a range of geo-hydro-mechanical contexts as well as future climate scenarios.
The work may be of interest to the LandAware community, given the relevance of the topic to both research and practice.