Italia Geo9

  Source The Italian Coast and its hazards Italy has over 8,000 km of coastline and is affected by coastal erosion and landslides ( source ).  About 60% of the population lives in coastal regions ( source ), so these hazards can have huge economic impacts.  Flooding is also a hazard, but that is mostly a result of a future topic of Climate Change and Sea Level Rise, which heavily impacts Venice ( source ).  Beach erosion is mostly due to reduced river sedimentation as well as man-made structures like harbors, settlement and associated infrastructure, and the tourism industry ( source ).  Here is a map that shows the coastline. Source Beach erosion Marina di Massi, 1959 ( Source ) What Italy is doing to prevent coastal erosion Strategies to reduce risk in Italy happen at regional or municipal levels and are coordinated by Regional Civil Protection agencies. At the national level, risk reduction is handled by the Department of Civil Protection. ( Source ). Many ag...

Italy has several types of extreme weather: heatwaves, droughts, flooding, severe thunderstorms, wildfires, hailstorms, waterspouts, ice storms, and the urban heat island effect.  The type of extreme weather seems to be associated with particular regions and that is how I would like to address the topic in my blog this week. To orient you, here is a map of Italy: Source Northern Italy Source As you can see from the satellite image above, the northern region of Italy is characterized by the Alps, the Po Valley, and the Apennines.  It is a valley flanked by 2 mountainous regions.  In the mountainous regions, the weather tends to be cold because of the high elevation. Here is a snowfall map for today: Source This region experiences hailstorms . The largest hailstone was 6.3 inches in Veneto and then a few days later that record was surpassed by a 7.5 inch hailstone in Friuli Venezia Giulia. Both of these hailstorms occured in July 2024. Economically, annual losses are in the...

https://www.npr.org/2022/11/26/1139276588/italy-ischia-landslide-casamicciola Italy’s geology and geomorphology makes the country prone to natural disasters including landslides.  In fact, it ranks as the 52nd most disaster-prone country. ( Source )  Climate change is exacerbating this issue.  Last year, researchers created an inventory of mass movements in the Italian Alps and found that 2022 saw the most mass movements to date, with a clear upward trend.  (The image above is from November 2022.) The inventory includes 779 mass movement events with 279 rockfalls and 191 mud/debris flows. ( Source )  661 landslides resulting in 4105 deaths occurred in Italy between 1950 & 2015 and rainfall is usually the trigger. ( Source ).  The most notable landslide was the Vajont Dam disaster of 1963.  If you would like to learn more about this disaster, please watch this video .  Just in the past week, parts of Northern Italy, including Florence and Pisa ...

Italy has nearly 40 volcanoes, and 13 come from the Holocene Epoch, only three of which are considered active ( source ).  These three are Mount Vesuvius, Stromboli, and Mount Etna. All three of these volcanoes are called stratovolcanoes, which are the most dangerous kind.  A Stratovolcano is dangerous because of its potential for an explosive eruption.   A map of the magmatic provinces, including active and quiet volcanoes. Source This map also shows two other active volcanoes: Vulcano and Campi Flegrei.  Their last eruptions were 1890 and 1538, respectively ( source ). Mount Vesuvius is located in the Italian Peninsula Volcanic Provinces and is very famous.  Its eruption in 79 AD killed thousands and buried the ancient Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum under ash and mud, which remained that way until the 18th Century ( source ). Image credit: https://seepompeii.com/en/mount-vesuvius/ Stromboli is located in the Aeolian Volcanic Arc and is called t...