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News from members

Call for manuscripts in the Special Issue “Natural Hazards, Disaster Risk Reduction and Society”

NEWS received from
Davide Tiranti (Regional Agency for Environmental Protection of Piemonte region, Italy)

The Special Issue “Natural Hazards, Disaster Risk Reduction and Society” on All Earth journal – 3.235 (2020) Impact Factor – by Taylor & Francis Group is now open for manuscripts submission.

You can submit your manuscript for open-access publication by the deadline of November 14, 2022 following this link.

This Special Issue aims to collect and disseminate the most relevant research concerning the study and characterization of Natural Hazards also in view of the possible future scenarios induced by Climate Change. The topic also includes the impacts that hazards have on the human community and the environment, the strategies for the mitigation of the dangerousness, both in terms of methodologies aimed at the forecast and prediction of the calamitous phenomena and the best practices to develop and manage early warning, surveillance and mitigation systems, having regard to technological innovation. Another important theme addressed in the context of the Special Issue concerns the communication strategies, both for the purpose of alerting and environmental education addressed to stakeholders and citizens. Communication techniques and related procedures for dissemination of alert products are the link between experts and end users, a fundamental aspect for an effective action of prevention, mitigation and resilience against the Natural Hazards.

Key themes will include (among the others): Avalanches; Channelized debris flows; Climate change induced disasters, the scenarios, trends and patterns; Disaster management; Disaster Risk Reduction; Early Warning Systems; Hazard and risk communication; Landslides.

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News from members

SHEAR at EGU22

NEWS received from
Mirianna Budimir (Practical Action, SHEAR)

SHEAR will be presenting a range of discussions, findings, and learning from our innovative projects at the EGU22 General Assembly- join us to hear about the advancements we’ve made towards improved landslide risk reduction and early warning since 2016. Presentations related to landslides include:

–        Developing forecast information for institutional decision-makers (Monday 23 May, 17:54–18:01 Room 1.14): There remains a gap between the production of scientifically robust forecasts, and the translation of these forecasts into useful information for institutional decision-makers in early warning systems. This presentation will explore learning and share best practices about both the content and process of developing such early warning information for institutional decision-makers, providing specific case study examples and drawing on practical experience from SHEAR projects.

–        Developing a methodology for the delineation of regions into landslide domains with a case study in East Sikkim, India (Tuesday 24 May, 08:52–08:59 Room 0.16): This presentation will share a new, more systematic methodology for the mapping of landslide domains, using as a case study East Sikkim district, a landslide-prone region in northeast India. Landslide domains are defined as regions with similar physical and environmental characteristics that specifically drive landslide dynamics. These domains can support the homogenous description of landslide processes, training and stakeholder engagement in landslide processes, and the development of landslide susceptibility maps and early warning.

–        Value of ground information in regions with limited landslide inventory for trigger threshold development — Application in Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu State, India (Tuesday 24 May, 13:20–13:27 Room 1.61/62): Forecasting rainfall-induced landslides is increasingly important as these hazards greatly impact communities, however it is extremely challenging due to the variability of the geo-environmental factors and the scale of underlying processes. Extensive data is needed to develop end validate forecasting thresholds, but this data is often limited. This presentation will share an innovative hydrological mode, called the “BGS water balance model”, which has been used in Nilgiris (Tamil Nadu state, India) to integrate the limited data available and support the development of threshold models, enabling the mapping of conditions that lead to landslide events.

–        Developing the conceptual framework for a prototype government-led regional Landslide Early Warning System in India (Wednesday 25 May, 13:25–13:32 Room M2): The LANDSLIP project has been working since 2016 to develop a prototype regional landslide forecasting and early warning system (LEWS) to help build resilience to rainfall-induced landslides in the Nilgiris and Darjeeling districts of India. In this presentation, key learning and reflections on the development of this prototype LEWS will be shared, including the challenges and outcomes of developing the underpinning conceptual framework, and the building of a shared understanding among the wide range of project partners involved.

–        Serious game for landslides: a review of the literature reviews to fill an existing gap in serious game research (Wednesday 25 May, 15:50–15:56 Room 1.14): Serious games are designed to develop knowledge and skills, or to change attitudes, about a specific topic. In this presentation, a member of the SHEAR Studentship Cohort shares the findings of a review of 58 serious games related to natural hazards or disaster risk, comparing characteristics and identifying gaps to devise four ideas for serious games for landslides in data-poor regions, focusing on India.

–        Road influences on landslide inventories (Thursday 26 May, 14:31–14:38 Room 1.31/32): Roads can both increase and decrease the likelihood of landslides occurring in a given region. This SHEAR Studentship Cohort presentation shares the findings of a spatial statistical analysis of landslide proximity to roads across a range of geographic settings and landslide inventory types to better understand how to use road proximity in landslide susceptibility models.

–        Investigating boulder motions with smart sensors in lab experiments (Thursday 26 May, 15:39–15:46 Room K2): Events such as landslides, rockslides, debris flows, and flash floods can have destructive and possibly fatal outcomes. In these events, boulders are carried downstream under the action of gravity; the study of their movement can give important insight on the dynamics and hazards related to these processes. This presentation will share research outcomes from the BOULDER project, which has been investigating boulder motion by the use of smart sensors in geomorphology applications both in lab and field experiments in order to better understand these hazardous flows and improve early warning systems.

For full details of all SHEAR presentations and a calendar, see here.

If you have any questions, please email Mirianna Budimir (Mirianna.budimir@practicalaction.org.uk).

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LandAware network News from members

Invitation to participate in research

NEWS received from
Mirianna Budimir (Practical Action, SHEAR)

We would like to invite LandAware members with relevant knowledge and experience of developing landslide early warning or forecast systems to take part in our FCDO and NERC funded SHEAR programme research study on developing landslide forecasting for Early Warning Systems. The research is being undertaken by a team from the British Geological Survey, Italian National Research Council, and Practical Action Consulting.

The purpose is to gather technical learning and evidence on developing landslide forecasting for Early Warning Systems. The research findings will be synthesised to provide learning points for development or refinement of landslide forecasting. The main findings will be shared in a report, which will be downloadable from the SHEAR project website, and the results will also be published in open access publications and shared via conferences.

Your responses to the questionnaire will be regarded as strictly confidential and will be held securely for the duration of the research. All data will be anonymised. Your personal information may be used to contact you for a follow-up interview by the project team.

To participate in this research study, please fill in the Google form here by 15th April 2022. The team would greatly appreciate your time supporting this research and hope that you are able to share your knowledge and experience with us.

If you have any questions, please email Mirianna Budimir (Mirianna.budimir@practicalaction.org.uk).

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LandAware network News from members WG02 Communication-Networking

Webinars on Landslide Monitoring for Early Warning Systems

NEWS received from
Jose Antonio Gili Ripoll (UPC, Spain)

On behalf of the PyrMove and GeoRisk projects, we are happy to announce four one-hour webinars on “Landslide Monitoring for Early Warning Systems” (2nd Edition), to be held this April, every Wednesday after lunchtime.

The webinar series goal is to disseminate new techniques and concepts that might help in landslide monitoring and modelling. These new solutions may be the base of some Early Warning Systems for controlling and managing the risk, in order to reduce damage or losses.

The webinars are addressed to professionals working in the risk management field, but also to the administration and public authorities responsible of the landslide and rockfall prone areas. Academics and students are also welcomed!

Webinars agenda

Wednesday, 6th of April, 2022. 15:00-16:00 (CEST)
Mixed Reality tools for visualization of complex spatial data in geomechanics – by Joan Roca (BGC Engineering)

Wednesday, 20th of April, 2022. 14:00-15:00 (CEST)    
Distributed fiber optic sensing for geotechnical monitoring – by Werner Lienhart (T. U. Graz)

Wednesday, 27thof April, 2022. 14:00-15:00 (CEST)
Filling the gap between monitoring and modelling in geotechnical engineering – by Cristian de Santos (SAALG Geomechanics)

Wednesday, 4th of May, 2022. 14:00-15:00 (CEST)
Slope stability monitoring using Remote IoT Technology – by Àngela Lluch & Víctor Salines (WorldSensing)

————-

Practical directions to follow the webinars

The technical sessions will be held in English. The attendance is free. The webinars will be held online through a Google Meet session

For the first webinar (Wednesday, 6 April · 15:00) the link will be: https://meet.google.com/sif-ftdu-oxd  (Meet code: sif-ftdu-oxd)

Next sessions will use a different MEET code. To be invited to one or several days, a simple pre-webinar registration is required: you must send an email to
EWS.webinars.April2021@gmail.com (the “2021” in the address is not a mistake, this gmail was configured for the 1st edition!) indicating your intention to attend to one or several webinars. You will receive the webinar link the day before each session.

In this link you may find a PDF with the factual information about the four webinars, a short description about the ‘PyrMove’ and the ‘GeoRisk’ projects and some useful links.

If you want, you can watch the four last-year webinars (April 2021) at the Youtube Webinar channel

For additional information, do not hesitate to contact the webinars ‘curators’: j.gili@upc.edu Technical University Catalonia (UPC)  &
marc.janeras@icgc.cat Institut Cartogràfic Geològic Catalunya (ICGC, Barcelona, Spain)

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News from members WG08 IoT-based methods and analyses

New Working Group!

NEWS received from
Luca Piciullo (NGI, Norway)

A new LandAware Working Group is born!
The new WG is dedicated to Internet of Thing methods and analyses, specifically devoted to real-time monitoring, modelling, and early warning.

The WG aims at gathering case studies and pilots to apply IoT-based methods and innovative monitoring sensors for warning purposes.

More info at: https://www.landaware.org/wgs/wg8/

If you are already a member of LandAware and you are interested in tthis WG please send your application by filling this form

If you are not yet member of LandAware please fill the membership request form

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News from members

Call for abstracts : JTC1 Workshop on Impact of global changes on landslide risk (7-10 June, 2023)

NEWS received from
Vittoria Capobianco – NGI, Norway

The Joint Technical Committee on Natural Slopes and Landslides (JTC1) of FedICGS is delighted to invite you to join us at the 3rd JTC1 Workshop on Impact of global changes on landslide risk, to be held in Oslo, Norway on June 7th – 10th, 2023.

3rd JTC1 Workshop on Impact of global changes on landslide risk

Anthropogenic impacts and related climate change are unquestionably changing the landslide risk and impacting how we assess and manage the risk(s).

The aim of the Workshop is to promote discussion between scientists and engineers on whether we are capable of predicting and quantifying the expected changes in landslide risk and how we could implement the knowledge gained from academic research on landslide risk management into practice. The advanced topics in focus for the discussions include:

  • Rock mass degradation and landslide initiation;
  • Climate and anthropogenic impact on landslide risk in various geographic regions, including the Arctic;
  • Prediction of landslide mobility and impact footprint, including landslides initiated at mine tailings storage facilities;
  • Application of modern remote sensing technologies to landslide risk assessment; 
  • Landslide risk reduction strategies: risk mitigation, including early warning and nature-based solutions;
  • Applications of new technologies like machine learning for landslide susceptibility and landslide hazard mapping.

The workshop will consist of two lecture days (June 8 and 9), and a one-day technical excursion (June 10). The lecture days will be a combination of five keynote lectures, a number of invited lectures, the 3rd Hutchinson Lecture as well as discussion sessions.

You are invited to submit extended abstracts (up to 4 pages) for oral presentation and short abstracts (max 1 page) for poster presentation. Instructions and templates for abstract submission can be found here.

The deadline for submitting both extended and poster abstracts is 31 March 2022.

The digital proceedings will be issued right after the workshop and made available on the 3rd JTC1 Workshop website.

The Organizing Committee will make a selection of the best abstracts (oral presentations and posters) and invite the authors to provide a full manuscript to be published in a Special Issue of a refereed, open-access journal. A total of 10 to 15 articles are envisioned for the Special Issue, which is expected to be published within one year after the workshop.

For detailed information check the dedicated website at: https://jtc1-2023.com/

Looking forward to seeing you in Oslo, 2023!

Contact person: Vittoria Capobianco (NGI) –  vittoria.capobianco@ngi.no

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News from members WG07 Operational LEWS

Seven years of landslide forecasting in Norway. Strengths and limitations

NEWS received from
Graziella Devoli – NVE, Norway

New conference proceedings “Seven years of landslide forecasting in Norway – Strengths and limitations”  presented at 5th World landslide Forum, Kyoto, Japan (WLF5 | World Lanslide Forum 5 (iplhq.org))

In this short paper, the authors summarize the experiences acquired by the Norwegian Landslide Forecasting and Warning Service during the first 7 years (between 2013 and 2019) of operation and discuss some of the main strengths and limitations of the service. The authors recognize that the major strengths of the service were the national political will (towards the creation of such of service), the assignation of the landslide forecasting service to an existing well consolidated flood warning service, the strong collaboration across public agencies and the multidisciplinary approach. The existence of a national landslide database and of an operational distributed hydrological model were essential for the rapid establishment of relationships between landslides events and hydro-meteorological conditions. A strong development of IT-tools and expansion of the meteorological and hydrological network was also crucial. Several are the challenges and limitations, among them: an insufficient process-understanding of rainfall- and snowmelt-induced landslides, the difficult and tedious task of verifying landslide occurrence after a warning is sent and, the prediction of landslides triggered by local intense rain showers during summer, and by rapid snowmelt events during winter, due to the limitations that exist in the models and thresholds currently in use.

Reference: Devoli G., Colleuille H., Sund M., Wasrud J. (2021). Seven Years of Landslide Forecasting in Norway—Strengths and Limitations. In: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021, N. Casagli et al. (eds.), Understanding and Reducing Landslide Disaster Risk, ICL Contribution to Landslide Disaster Risk Reduction, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60311-3_30  (pages 267-274)

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News from members

Workshop on Slope Stability and Landslide Risk Management

NEWS received from
Michele Calvello

NGI, in cooperation with ISSMGE TC304 and TC309, organises a half-day Technical Forum on Slope Stability and Landslide Risk Management on 14 December 2021 (8:30-12:30 CET).

To advance the understanding of landslide hazard and risk, this Forum will provide a platform for academics and practitioners to share insights and experience gained from research and practice. The Forum focuses on four themes, namely (1) Probabilistic slope stability assessment, (2) Climate impact on slope stability and landslides, (3) Landslide mobility and (4) Landslide risk assessment and mitigation.

The event will be conducted in a virtual  mode. Participation at the event is free of charge, but registration is compulsory and should be completed online. 

Link to register

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News from members

Session on LEWS at EGU2022

NEWS received from
Luca Piciullo, Dalia Kirschbaum, Neelima Satyam, Samuele Segoni, and Stefano Luigi Gariano

The EGU General Assembly 2022 #EGU22 will return as an in-person/hybrid event to Vienna, Austria, from 3-8 April 2022, once again bringing together geoscientists from all over the world.
The session entitled “Towards reliable Landslide Early Warning Systems” is now open to receive your contributions.

The session focuses on LEWSs at both regional and local scales. The session wishes to highlight operational approaches, original achievements and developments useful to operate reliable (efficient and effective) local and territorial LEWSs.
Contributions addressing the following topics are welcome:
rainfall thresholds definition for warning purposes;
–  monitoring systems for early warning purposes;
warning models for warning levels issuing;
performance analysis of landslide warning models;
communication strategies;
emergency phase management.

More info at https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU22/session/43376

The deadline for abstract submission is 12 January 2022, 13:00 CET.

For those applying for EGU Roland Schlich travel support, the deadline is 1 December 2021, 13:00 CET. Only EGU members with a valid 2022 membership will be able to submit abstracts to EGU22 and, with a few exceptions, only one abstract as first author will be permitted.

Note on presentation format: if you plan on participating virtually, you should submit your abstract to a vPICO session, since the oral/poster sessions will not provide the possibility for virtual presentation. If you plan on attending in-person in Vienna, feel free to submit to any session, vPICO as well as oral/poster sessions.

Looking forward to receiving your contributions and to meeting you all (in person or virtually) soon!
Luca Piciullo, Dalia Kirschbaum, Neelima Satyam, Samuele Segoni, Stefano Luigi Gariano

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News from members

New article on wildfire effects on debris flows and LEWS

NEWS received from
Davide Tiranti, Regional Agency for Environmental Protection of Piedmont region, Italy

New article “Wildfires Effect on Debris Flow Occurrence in Italian Western Alps: Preliminary Considerations to Refine Debris Flow Early Warnings System Criteria” published in the special issue of Geosciences journal on “Local and Territorial Landslide Early Warning Systems

In this paper, two case studies in the Italian western Alps on the relationship between wildfires and debris flows occurrence have been analyzed to understand how to integrate this factor in the regional debris flow early warning system (DFEWS). To define these correlations, the authors conducted analyses to characterize changes in the conditions and behavior of catchments after wildfires. The Curve Number (CN) method was adopted to estimate hydrological variations before and after wildfires and identify the differences in catchments response to rainfall events, due to its simple applicability over a large number of catchments. Rainfall analyses, using both data from raingauges and weather radars to identify the actual distribution of precipitation intensity fields, were addressed. The case studies described have led to some interesting results, both regarding the understanding of the wildfires effects on debris flows triggering in small Alpine catchments and on the necessary technical and operational adjustments to improve the DFEWS performance in case of wildfire occurrence.

Reference: Tiranti D., Cremonini R., Sanmartino D. (2021) Wildfires Effect on Debris Flow Occurrence in Italian Western Alps: Preliminary Considerations to Refine Debris Flow Early Warnings System Criteria. Geosciences 11, 422. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11100422