Landslide detection in the Himalayas using machine learning algorithms and U-Net

Landslides - Event-based landslide inventories are essential sources to broaden our understanding of the causal relationship between triggering events and the occurring landslides. Moreover,...     

A new hybrid procedure for the definition of seismic vulnerability in Mediterranean cross-border urban areas

Assessment of seismic vulnerability of urban areas provides fundamental information for activities of planning and management of emergencies. The main difficulty encountered when extending vulnerability evaluations to urban contexts is the definition of a framework of assessment appropriate for the specific characteristics of the site and providing reliable results with a reasonable duration of surveys and post-processing of data. The paper proposes a new procedure merging different typologies of information recognized on the territories investigated and for this reason called “hybrid.” Knowledge of historical events influencing urban evolution and analysis of recurrent building technologies are used to evaluate the vulnerability indexes of buildings and building stocks. On the other hand, a vulnerability model is calibrated by means of experimental and numerical investigations on prototype buildings representative of the most recurrent typologies. In the final framework, the vulnerability index, calculated through simplified assessment forms, is linked to the seismic intensity expressed by the peak ground acceleration and associated with an index of damage expressing the economical loss. The procedure has been tested on the urban center of Lampedusa island (Italy) providing as the output vulnerability index maps, vulnerability curves, critical PGA maps, and estimation of the economical damage associated with different earthquake scenarios. The application of the procedure can be suitably repeated for medium-to-small urban areas, typically recurring in the Mediterranean by carrying out each time a recalibration of the vulnerability model.     

新疆21世纪气候变化的高分辨率模拟

使用一个25 km高水平分辨率区域气候模式(RegCM3),嵌套MIROC3.2_hires全球气候模式结果,进行了IPCC SRES A1B情景下,东亚区域21世纪气候变化的模拟,针对新疆地区进行了分析.首先对模式模拟的当代（1981-2000年）气候进行检验,结果表明:模式对年平均气温、降水的空间分布和数值均具有较...     

Aliphatic hydrocarbons in metasomatized gabbroic xenoliths from Hyblean diatremes (Sicily): Genesis in a serpentinite hydrothermal system

Many tholeiite gabbro xenoliths from the Hyblean tuff-breccia deposits (Sicily, southern Italy) present mineralogical and geochemical evidence for hydrothermal alteration at different temperatures and water/rock ratios. In some cases, the primary mineral assemblage has been entirely replaced by Na-rich alkali feldspar, chlorite/smectite interlayers, zeolites, aegirine–augite, titanite, zircon etc. Hence the chemical composition of such metasomatic rocks displays larger amounts of volatiles, alkalis, Zr, Hf, U, Th and lower Ca, Mg, Fe with respect to the original gabbro. Five hydrothermally altered gabbroic xenoliths were selected for thermal decrepitation and bulk gas analyses by quadrupole mass spectrometry. All the samples analyzed display the same Electron Impact-Direct Pyrolysis Mass spectra (EI-DPMS). These show a series of peaks differing by 14 mass units due to loss of methylene groups (–CH₂), by a fragmentation process typical of saturated aliphatic and aliphatic–aromatic hydrocarbons. In addition, Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectra of the samples present several bands typical of vibration frequencies of aliphatic hydrocarbons. The high-molecular-weight hydrocarbons observed probably originated from Fischer–Tropsch-type (FT-t) synthesis in the high temperature section of a serpentinite-hosted hydrothermal system. This suggestion may lend support to the recent hypothesis regarding the original oceanic nature of the Hyblean lithospheric basement.     

Monitoring, prediction, and early warning using ground-based radar interferometry

In order to define adequate prevention measures and to manage landslide emergencies, real-time monitoring is required. This paper presents two different applications of the remote sensing technique: the ground-based synthetic aperture radar interferometry, here proposed as a monitoring and early warning support for slope instability. Data acquisitions carried out through a ground-based synthetic aperture radar interferometer, operating in K_u band, installed in front of the observed slopes, are discussed. Two case studies, based on the use of the same apparatus (formerly developed by the Joint Research Center of the European Commission and by Ellegi-LiSALab srl), are reported: the first one concerns the monitoring of a large landslide, named Ruinon (Valfurva, Italy). The second one deals with the monitoring of the NW unstable slope in the Stromboli island aimed to implementing an early warning system. Acquired interferometric data are processed to provide displacements and velocity maps of the monitored area. The monitoring services ongoing on the Ruinon landslide and on Stromboli demonstrate the capability of this technique to operate in different operative settings (i.e., different phenomena and geological framework) and for different aims (monitoring for prevention, early warning, and emergency assessment). This methodology has also been proved by national and regional authorities of civil protection in order to provide a real-time monitoring for emergency management.     

Exploring a landslide inventory created by automated web data mining: the case of Italy

Landslides - Nowadays, several systems to set up landslide inventories exist although they rarely rely on automated or real-time updates. Mass media can provide reliable info about natural hazard...     

High-fidelity broadband prediction of regional seismic response: a hybrid coupling of physics-based synthetic simulation and empirical Green functions

Natural Hazards - The prediction of the seismic response of critical structures is highly sensitive to many aspects, among which the earthquake source and the geological setting are prominent. The...     

Helium in Phlegraean Fields soil gases: July 20th–26th — September 19th–25th, 1983

Two helium surveys were carried out at Phlegraean Fields in July and September 1983 aiming at locating loci of discontinuities (fractures) in the area on the basis of variations in helium concentrations following the bradyseismic crisis then in progress.     

The role of syn-eruptive vesiculation on explosive basaltic activity at Mt. Etna,Italy

We investigated the dynamics of explosive activity at Mt. Etna between 31 August and 15 December 2006 by combining vesicle studies in the erupted products with measurements of the gas composition at the active, summit crater. The analysed scoria clasts present large, connected vesicles with complex shapes and smaller, isolated, spherical vesicles, the content of which increases in scoriae from the most explosive events. Gas geochemistry reports CO₂/SO₂ and SO₂/HCl ratios supporting a deep-derived gas phase for fire-fountain activity. By integrating results from scoria vesiculation and gas analysis we find that the highest energy episodes of Mt. Etna activity in 2006 were driven by a previously accumulated CO₂-rich gas phase but we highlight the lesser role of syn-eruptive vesicle nucleation driven by water exsolution during ascent. We conclude that syn-eruptive vesiculation is a common process in Etnean magmas that may promote a deeper conduit magma fragmentation and increase ash formation.