Flood and landslide warning based on rainfall thresholds and soil moisture indexes: the HEWS (Hydrohazards Early Warning System) for Sicily
The main focus of the paper is to present a flood and landslide early warning system, named HEWS (Hydrohazards Early Warning System), specifically developed for the Civil Protection Department of Sicily, based on the combined use of rainfall thresholds, soil moisture modelling and quantitative p...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2017-09-01
|
| Series: | Advances in Geosciences |
| Online Access: | https://www.adv-geosci.net/44/79/2017/adgeo-44-79-2017.pdf |
| _version_ | 1811325904726523904 |
|---|---|
| author | G. Brigandì G. T. Aronica B. Bonaccorso R. Gueli G. Basile |
| author_facet | G. Brigandì G. T. Aronica B. Bonaccorso R. Gueli G. Basile |
| author_sort | G. Brigandì |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The main focus of the paper is to present a flood and landslide
early warning system, named HEWS (Hydrohazards Early Warning System),
specifically developed for the Civil Protection Department of Sicily, based
on the combined use of rainfall thresholds, soil moisture modelling and
quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF).
<br><br>
The warning system is referred to 9 different <q>Alert Zones</q> in which Sicily
has been divided into and based on a threshold system of three different
increasing critical levels: ordinary, moderate and high.
<br><br>
In this system, for early flood warning, a Soil Moisture Accounting (SMA)
model provides daily soil moisture conditions, which allow to select a
specific set of three rainfall thresholds, one for each critical level
considered, to be used for issue the alert bulletin.
<br><br>
Wetness indexes, representative of the soil moisture conditions of a
catchment, are calculated using a simple, spatially-lumped
rainfall–streamflow model, based on the SCS-CN method, and on the unit
hydrograph approach, that require daily observed and/or predicted rainfall,
and temperature data as input. For the calibration of this model daily
continuous time series of rainfall, streamflow and air temperature data are used.
<br><br>
An event based lumped rainfall–runoff model has been, instead, used for the derivation of the rainfall thresholds for each catchment in Sicily
characterised by an area larger than 50 km<sup>2</sup>. In particular, a Kinematic Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph based lumped rainfall–runoff model with the SCS-CN routine for net rainfall was developed for this purpose.
<br><br>
For rainfall-induced shallow landslide warning, empirical rainfall
thresholds provided by Gariano et al. (2015) have been included in the
system. They were derived on an empirical basis starting from a catalogue of
265 shallow landslides in Sicily in the period 2002–2012.
<br><br>
Finally, Delft-FEWS operational forecasting platform has been applied to
link input data, SMA model and rainfall threshold models to produce warning
on a daily basis for the entire region. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T14:40:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7778939b29b5475ea82ca499eaf49a79 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1680-7340 1680-7359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T14:40:40Z |
| publishDate | 2017-09-01 |
| publisher | Copernicus Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Advances in Geosciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-7778939b29b5475ea82ca499eaf49a792022-12-22T02:42:54ZengCopernicus PublicationsAdvances in Geosciences1680-73401680-73592017-09-0144798810.5194/adgeo-44-79-2017Flood and landslide warning based on rainfall thresholds and soil moisture indexes: the HEWS (Hydrohazards Early Warning System) for SicilyG. Brigandì0G. T. Aronica1B. Bonaccorso2R. Gueli3G. Basile4Department of Engineering, University of Messina, 98168 Messina, ItalyDepartment of Engineering, University of Messina, 98168 Messina, ItalyDepartment of Engineering, University of Messina, 98168 Messina, ItalyDepartment of Engineering, University of Messina, 98168 Messina, ItalyRegional Civil Protection Department of Sicily, 90141 Palermo, ItalyThe main focus of the paper is to present a flood and landslide early warning system, named HEWS (Hydrohazards Early Warning System), specifically developed for the Civil Protection Department of Sicily, based on the combined use of rainfall thresholds, soil moisture modelling and quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF). <br><br> The warning system is referred to 9 different <q>Alert Zones</q> in which Sicily has been divided into and based on a threshold system of three different increasing critical levels: ordinary, moderate and high. <br><br> In this system, for early flood warning, a Soil Moisture Accounting (SMA) model provides daily soil moisture conditions, which allow to select a specific set of three rainfall thresholds, one for each critical level considered, to be used for issue the alert bulletin. <br><br> Wetness indexes, representative of the soil moisture conditions of a catchment, are calculated using a simple, spatially-lumped rainfall–streamflow model, based on the SCS-CN method, and on the unit hydrograph approach, that require daily observed and/or predicted rainfall, and temperature data as input. For the calibration of this model daily continuous time series of rainfall, streamflow and air temperature data are used. <br><br> An event based lumped rainfall–runoff model has been, instead, used for the derivation of the rainfall thresholds for each catchment in Sicily characterised by an area larger than 50 km<sup>2</sup>. In particular, a Kinematic Instantaneous Unit Hydrograph based lumped rainfall–runoff model with the SCS-CN routine for net rainfall was developed for this purpose. <br><br> For rainfall-induced shallow landslide warning, empirical rainfall thresholds provided by Gariano et al. (2015) have been included in the system. They were derived on an empirical basis starting from a catalogue of 265 shallow landslides in Sicily in the period 2002–2012. <br><br> Finally, Delft-FEWS operational forecasting platform has been applied to link input data, SMA model and rainfall threshold models to produce warning on a daily basis for the entire region.https://www.adv-geosci.net/44/79/2017/adgeo-44-79-2017.pdf |
| spellingShingle | G. Brigandì G. T. Aronica B. Bonaccorso R. Gueli G. Basile Flood and landslide warning based on rainfall thresholds and soil moisture indexes: the HEWS (Hydrohazards Early Warning System) for Sicily Advances in Geosciences |
| title | Flood and landslide warning based on rainfall thresholds and soil moisture indexes: the HEWS (Hydrohazards Early Warning System) for Sicily |
| title_full | Flood and landslide warning based on rainfall thresholds and soil moisture indexes: the HEWS (Hydrohazards Early Warning System) for Sicily |
| title_fullStr | Flood and landslide warning based on rainfall thresholds and soil moisture indexes: the HEWS (Hydrohazards Early Warning System) for Sicily |
| title_full_unstemmed | Flood and landslide warning based on rainfall thresholds and soil moisture indexes: the HEWS (Hydrohazards Early Warning System) for Sicily |
| title_short | Flood and landslide warning based on rainfall thresholds and soil moisture indexes: the HEWS (Hydrohazards Early Warning System) for Sicily |
| title_sort | flood and landslide warning based on rainfall thresholds and soil moisture indexes the hews hydrohazards early warning system for sicily |
| url | https://www.adv-geosci.net/44/79/2017/adgeo-44-79-2017.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gbrigandi floodandlandslidewarningbasedonrainfallthresholdsandsoilmoistureindexesthehewshydrohazardsearlywarningsystemforsicily AT gtaronica floodandlandslidewarningbasedonrainfallthresholdsandsoilmoistureindexesthehewshydrohazardsearlywarningsystemforsicily AT bbonaccorso floodandlandslidewarningbasedonrainfallthresholdsandsoilmoistureindexesthehewshydrohazardsearlywarningsystemforsicily AT rgueli floodandlandslidewarningbasedonrainfallthresholdsandsoilmoistureindexesthehewshydrohazardsearlywarningsystemforsicily AT gbasile floodandlandslidewarningbasedonrainfallthresholdsandsoilmoistureindexesthehewshydrohazardsearlywarningsystemforsicily |