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Landscape Scales of Erosive Storm Hazard Across the Mediterranean Region

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Storminess and Environmental Change

Part of the book series: Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research ((NTHR,volume 39))

Abstract

This work illustrates a modelling study of the erosive power of rainstorms, in integration with GIS techniques, to assess long-term storm erosive hazard in the Mediterranean region. From long-term average erosivity values, it was observed that large erosive rainfalls tend to occur especially in late summer, confined to continental areas, and autumn, along the Mediterranean coasts and near-to-coast reliefs. Rainfall intensity anomalies registered in the September and December months of different years were further investigated, because rain rate was observed to increase in these periods, especially affecting the month of September. An increased erosive hazard was signaled to have occurred in a recent decade (1991–2010) in comparison to the baseline climatology (1961–1990), and some time-series were detected for some sites during the period (1950–2010). Possible consequences on soil erosion were discussed. Remarks were also made concerning the bearing of the findings on a wider interpretation of erosive hazards on soil conservation and the need for future studies.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank also Lorenzo Borselli (IRPI-CNR, Florence, Italy) for valuable comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Met European Research Observatory, Benevento, Italy

    Nazzareno Diodato

  2. Grassland Ecosystem Research Unit, French National Institute of Agricultural Research, Clermont-Ferrand, France

    Gianni Bellocchi

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  1. Nazzareno Diodato
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  2. Gianni Bellocchi
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Correspondence to Nazzareno Diodato .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. HyMex Network, Met European Research Observatory, Benevento, Italy

    Nazzareno Diodato

  2. Grassland Ecosystem Research Unit, French National Institute of Agricultural Research, Clermont-Ferrand, France

    Gianni Bellocchi

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Diodato, N., Bellocchi, G. (2014). Landscape Scales of Erosive Storm Hazard Across the Mediterranean Region. In: Diodato, N., Bellocchi, G. (eds) Storminess and Environmental Change. Advances in Natural and Technological Hazards Research, vol 39. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7948-8_7

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