Search results for "Idrologia"

Integration of fuzzy logic and image analysis for the detection of gullies in the Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory using airborne LiDAR data

2017

Abstract The entire Piedmont of the Southeastern United States, where the Calhoun Critical Zone Observatory (CCZO) is located, experienced one of the most severe erosive events of the last two centuries. Forested areas were cleared to cultivate cotton, tobacco, and other crops during the nineteenth and early twentieth century and these land use changes, together with intense rainfalls, initiated deep gullying. An accurate mapping of these landforms is important since, despite some gully stabilization and reforestation efforts, gullies are still major contributors of sediment to streams. Mapping gullies in the CCZO area is hindered by the presence of dense canopy, which precludes the identif…

A hydrodynamic water quality model for propagation of pollutants in rivers.

2010

Numerical modelling can be a useful tool to assess a receiving water body's quality state. Indeed, the use of mathematical models in river water quality management has become a common practice to show the cause-effect relationship between emissions and water body quality and to design as well as assess the effectiveness of mitigation measures. In the present study, a hydrodynamic river water quality model is presented. The model consists of a quantity and a quality sub-model. The quantity sub-model is based on the Saint Venant equations. The solution of the Saint Venant equations is obtained by means of an explicit scheme based on space-time conservation. The method considers the unificatio…

Impact of hydrologically driven hillslope erosion and landslide occurrence on soil organic carbon dynamics in tropical watersheds

2016

The dynamics of soil organic carbon (SOC) in tropical forests play an important role in the global carbon (C) cycle. Past attempts to quantify the net C exchange with the atmosphere in regional and global budgets do not systematically account for dynamic feedbacks among linked hydrological, geomorphological, and biogeochemical processes, which control the fate of SOC. Here we quantify effects of geomorphic perturbations on SOC oxidation and accumulation in two adjacent wet tropical forest watersheds underlain by contrasting lithology (volcaniclastic rock and quartz diorite) in the Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory. This study uses the spatially-explicit and physically-based model of SOC dy…

The role of hydrology on enhanced weathering for carbon sequestration I. Modeling rock-dissolution reactions coupled to plant, soil moisture, and car…

2021

Abstract Enhanced Weathering (EW) resulting from soil amendment with highly reactive silicate minerals is regarded as one of the most effective techniques for carbon sequestration. While in laboratory conditions silicate minerals dissolution rates are well characterized, in field conditions the rate of the dissolution reaction is more difficult to predict, not least because it interacts with soil, plant, and hydrologic processes. Here we present a dynamic mass balance model connecting biogeochemical and ecohydrological dynamics to shed light on these intertwined processes involved in EW. We focus on the silicate mineral olivine, for its faster laboratory dissolution rate, and pay particular…

Tsunami Vulnerability Evaluation for a Small Ancient Village on Eastern Sicily Coast

2022

The Ionian sea is prone to tsunamis due to its proximity to the Calabrian subduction zone, which is one of the major tsunamigenic areas of the Mediterranean. The tsunami disaster risk is, nowadays, significantly higher due to the increased exposure of buildings as a result of the economic and touristic growth of the Mediterranean coastal areas. This study focuses on Marzamemi, a small village in the western coast of Sicily, since its morphology and human presence amplify the need to assess its buildings’ vulnerability. The main objective of this research is to quantify the building vulnerability to tsunami hazards using a physical and realistic tsunami scenario. For this purpose, the relati…

A new shoreline boundary condition for a highly nonlinear 1DH Boussinesq model for breaking waves

2008

In order to model the wave motion and, in turn, the flow, within the nearshore region, in the last decades the derivation and the application of Boussinesq type of models have been extensively investigated. Nevertheless, in the framework of such depth integrated numerical models, the problems of modeling wave breaking and moving onshore boundary at the shoreline are not trivial and several approaches have been proposed to overcome these limits. In the present work an effort toward a more physical based model of the surf and the swash zone has been accomplished. In particular, starting from the work of Musumeci et al. (2005), a new model of the shoreline boundary condition has been implement…

Swash oscillation with a highly nonlinear Boussinesq model for breaking waves

2008

Spatial analysis techniques for mapping the annual surface runoff in Sicily under the Budyko’s framework

2016

This work shows a new approach, based on the Budyko framework, for mapping the mean annual surface runoff and deriving the probability distribution of the annual runoff in arid and semi-arid watersheds. We analytically provide the annual runoff distribution as the derived distribution of annual rainfall and potential evapotranspiration. The simulated long-term annual runoff and its distribution have been compared with historical records at several gauged stations, obtaining satisfactory matching.

Large eddy simulation model for wind-driven sea circulation in coastal areas

2013

Abstract. In the present paper a state-of-the-art large eddy simulation model (LES-COAST), suited for the analysis of water circulation and mixing in closed or semi-closed areas, is presented and applied to the study of the hydrodynamic characteristics of the Muggia bay, the industrial harbor of the city of Trieste, Italy. The model solves the non-hydrostatic, unsteady Navier–Stokes equations, under the Boussinesq approximation for temperature and salinity buoyancy effects, using a novel, two-eddy viscosity Smagorinsky model for the closure of the subgrid-scale momentum fluxes. The model employs: a simple and effective technique to take into account wind-stress inhomogeneity related to the …

Evaluating several satellite precipitation estimates and global ground-based dataset on Sicily (Italy)

2012

The developing of satellite-based precipitation retrieval systems, presents great potentialities for several ap­ plications ranging from weather and meteorological applications to hydrological modelling. Evaluating perfor­ mances for these estimates is essential in order to understand their real capabilities and suitability related to each application. In this study an evaluation analysis of satellite precipitation retrieval systems has been carried out for the area of Sicily (Italy). Sicily is an island in the Mediterranean sea with a particular climatology and morphology, which is considered as an interesting test site for satellite precipitation products on the European mid-latitude area…