Hydrological extremes: genesis, process and remediation

Research focus

The Peer review has evaluated this group as Excellent

The research activity is aimed at: 1. The development of methods for process observation. This includes data assimilation and data fusion of rainfall observations from multiple sensors like rain-gauge network, radar telemeter and satellite (active and passive microwaves) aimed at reducing uncertainty in real-time prediction of precipitation (Bocchiola and Rosso 2006a). The data assimilation techniques can provide series of regular and physically consistent estimates of the precipitation from in situ/remote instruments, which typically provide imperfect samples irregular in space and time. 2. The field analysis and mathematical modeling of hydrological processes like, rainfall storms (De Michele and Salvadori 2003, Salvadori and De Michele 2004), droughts and flash floods (Salvadori and De Michele 2004, De Michele et al. 2005), debris flows, firefloods (Rulli and Rosso 2005, Rulli et al. 2006), soil slips (Rosso et al. 2006a,b), woody debris (Bocchiola et al. 2006a) and snow avalanches (Bocchiola et al. 2006b). 3. The development of new statistical estimation techniques for extreme values of hydrologic phenomena; the uncertainty analysis in extreme value estimates; the analysis and modeling of time and space-time random fields, mainly addressing combined scaling in time and space (dynamic scaling); the effects of non-stationarities like the influence of fire on the erosion of soil, woody debris and flash-floods. 4. The evaluation of climate and anthropogenic forcing on hydrological hazard at different spatial scales, this including feedback effects associated with mitigation actions through civil engineering works, water impounding facilities, and bio-engineering restoration (Montaldo et al. 2004); 5. The construction, calibration and validation of simulation models for early warning, real-time flood forecasting and long-term prediction, using open schemes accommodating land planning and civil protection (Bocchiola and Rosso 2006b). 6. This type of research activities can help evaluating the risk of extremes, the reliability of hydraulic engineering works, the design of mitigation measures under an application oriented approach to civil protection, the design and assessment of monitoring systems.

Dipartimento di afferenza

Dipartimento di Ingegneria Idraulica, Ambientale, Infrastrutture Viarie, Rilevamento (DIIAR)

Docenti afferenti

Full Professor
Marco Mancini
Renzo Rosso
Associate Professor
Alberto Bianchi
Assistant Professor
Daniele Bocchiola
Carlo De Michele
Maria Cristina Rulli