Federica Fiorucci

• PhD
• Research Associate at Italian National Research Council

Timely and systematic collection of landslide information after a triggering event is pivotal for the definition of landslide trends in response to climate change. On September 15, 2022, a large part of central Italy, particularly Marche and Umbria regions, was struck by an anomalous rainfall event that showed characteristics of a persistent convec...

Systematic and timely documentation of triggered (i.e. event) landslides is fundamental to build extensive datasets worldwide that may help define and/or validate trends in response to climate change. More in general, preparation of landslide inventories is a crucial activity since it provides the basic data for any subsequent analysis. In this wor...

The majority of landslide susceptibility and hazard zonations are implemented with statistical methods, especially on large scales: mostly because the data needed for physical simulations are only available in small areas. Physically–based simulations for slope stability are conceptually different from widely used statistical approaches. Both metho...

Over the last 2 decades, the topic of earthquake-triggered landslides (EQTLs) has shown increasing relevance in the scientific community. This interest is confirmed by the numerous articles published in international, peer-reviewed journals. In this work we present a database containing a selection of articles published on this topic from 1984 to 2...

Detailed and accurate geomorphological historical landslide inventory maps are an invaluable source of information for many research topics and applications. Their systematic preparation worldwide has been advised by many researchers as it may foster our knowledge on landslides, their spatial and temporal distribution, their potential interaction w...

Over the last two decades, the topic of earthquake-triggered landslides (EQTLs) has shown an increasing relevance in the scientific community. This interest is confirmed by the numerous articles published in the international, peer-reviewed journals. In this work we present a database containing a selection of articles published on this topic from...

Detailed and accurate geomorphological historical landslide inventory maps are an invaluable source of information for many research topics and applications. Their systematic preparation worldwide has been advised by many researchers as it may foster our knowledge on landslides, their spatial and temporal distribution, their potential interaction w...

Physically-based simulations for slope stability are conceptually different from widely used statistical approaches. Both methods have specific advantages, depending on available data, their type and resolution and, most importantly, the aim of the study. The majority of landslide susceptibility and hazard zonations are implemented with statistical...

Among the various predisposing factors of rainfall-induced shallow landslides, land use is constantly evolving, being linked to human activities. Between different land uses, improper agricultural practices can have a negative impact on slope stability. Indeed, unsustainable soil tillage can modify the mechanical properties of the soils, leading to...

Landslides triggered by meteorological phenomena occur worldwide and cause extensive and severe damages to properties, and life loss. Detailed maps of event landslides can sensibly shorten emergency response time, possibly resulting in reduced death tolls. In most cases, however, optical post-event images are not always available right after the ev...

Rockfalls pose a substantial threat to ground transportation, due to their rapidity, destructive potential and high probability of occurrence on steep topographies, often found along roads and railway routes. Approaches for the assessment of rockfall susceptibility range from purely phenomenological methods and statistical methods, suitable for mod...

Landslide inventories provide the knowledge basis for many geomorphological applications and also planning and emergency management. Detailed landslide inventories should also be prepared where pre-existing inventories are available, as knowledge updates. In this paper, we present a new geomorphological landslide inventory for an area of the High A...

Rockfalls pose a substantial threat to ground transportation, due to their rapidity, destructive potential and high probability of occurrence on steep topographies, often found along roads and railway routes. Various factors trigger rockfalls, including rainfall and seismic activity, and diverse phenomena affect their probability of occurrence. App...

Geo-hydrological risk reduction is a key issue for local governments in Italy. In this context, a collaboration was undertaken between multiple actors in the La Spezia municipality aimed at: (i) monitoring building characteristics, using specific and valuable indicators, and (ii) increasing the knowledge of geo-hydrological hazards across residents...

Rockfalls are one harmful kind of landslide, due to their rapidity, destructive potential and high probabilityof occurrence on steep topographies, often foundalong transportation corridors. Various factorscan trigger rockfalls, including intense rainfall and seismic activity, and diverse phenomenaaffect their occurrence, like rock weathering and fr...

The paper describes the multitemporal landslide inventory map prepared for the urban areas of Motta Montecorvino and Volturino, two municipalities located in the Southern Apennines (Apulia Region, Italy). These territories show a high propensity to landslides of different types and magnitude, which periodically interfere with the anthropic structur...

A 1:5,000 scale geological map and 31 geological cross-sections are presented for the surroundings of Amatrice village (central Apennines, Italy), epicentral area of the first damaging earthquake of the 2016–2017 seismic sequence. This detailed geological dataset focuses on: (i) the extent, the thickness, and the internal stratigraphic architecture...

We present an improvement of image classification for landslide mapping by “thresholding”, using topographic information to determine multiple thresholds. We devised a two-steps procedure for automatic classification into landslide or no landslide categories of a change-detection map obtained from satellite imagery. Requirements of the proposed pro...

Landslide inventory maps are commonly prepared through the visual interpretation of stereoscopic aerial photographs and field checks. Stereoscopic satellite images can also be interpreted visually to recognize and map landslides. When interpreting stereoscopic imagery, shadows can conceal the photographic elements typical of landslides, hampering t...

We present an improvement of image classification by “thresholding”, using topographic information to determine multiple thresholds. We devised a two-steps procedure for automatic classification into landslide or no landslide categories of a change-detection map obtained from satellite imagery. Requirements of the proposed procedure are knowledge o...

We present an improvement of image classification by “thresholding”, using topographic information to determine multiple thresholds. We devised a two-steps procedure for automatic classification into landslide or no landslide categories of a change-detection map obtained from satellite imagery. Requirements of the proposed procedure are knowledge o...

Landslides leave discernible signs on the land surface, most of which can be captured in remote sensing images. Trained geomorphologists analyse remote sensing images and map landslides through heuristic interpretation of photographic and morphological characteristics. Despite a wide use of remote sensing images for landslide mapping, no attempt to...

Information on bedding attitude is necessary to define the geological and structural setting of an area and is relevant for the assessment of landslide susceptibility at different scales and in different physiographic environments. Bedding planes are a known factor controlling the type, abundance, and pattern of landslides. Where layered rocks crop...

In Italy rainfall-induced slope failures occur every year, claiming lives and causing severe economic disruptions. We have designed and implemented a warning system, named SANF (an acronym for national early warning system for rainfall-induced landslides), to forecast the possible occurrence of rainfall-induced landslides. The system is based on: (...

Landslides are common phenomena in mountainous countries, and play an important role in the evolution of landscapes. They also represent a serious hazard in many areas of the world. Acquiring systematic information on the type, abundance, and distribution of landslides, and preparing landslide inventory maps is of fundamental importance to mitigate...

We describe a semi-automatic procedure for the classification of satellite imagery into landslide or no landslide categories, aimed at preparing event landslide inventory maps. The two-steps procedure requires knowledge of the occurrence of a landslide event, availability of a pre- and post- event pseudo-stereo pair and a digital elevation model. T...

Urbanistica Informazioni, 271, 68-69, 2017. Obiettivo della conferenza d'interesse generale è mostrare che è possibile mitigare gli impatti disastrosi di fenomeni naturali sugli ambienti urbani, le popolazioni, i beni, le risorse, il paesaggio e le economie ponendo in correlazione i risultati della ricerca scientifica sui fenomeni naturali pericol...

In this paper, an attempt to analyse landslide hazard and vulnerability in the municipality of Pahuatlán, Puebla, Mexico, is presented. In order to estimate landslide hazard, the susceptibility, magnitude (area-velocity ratio) and landslide frequency of the area of interest were produced based on information derived from a geomorphological landslid...

Despite abundant information on landslides, and on landslide hazard and risk, in Italy, little is known on the direct impact of event landslides on road networks and on the related economic costs. We investigated the physical and economic damage caused by two rainfall-induced landslide events in Central and Southern Italy, to obtain road restoratio...

We executed an experiment to determine the effects of image characteristics on event landslide mapping. In the experiment, we compared eight maps of the same landslide, the Assignano landslide, in Umbria, central Italy. Six maps were obtained through the expert visual interpretation of monoscopic and pseudo-stereoscopic (2.5D), ultra-resolution (3...

Automatic subdivision of landscapes into terrain units remains a challenge. Slope units are terrain units bounded by drainage and divide lines, but their use in hydrological and geomorphological studies is limited because of the lack of reliable software for their automatic delineation. We present the r.slopeunits software for the automatic delinea...

Floods and landslides are common phenomena that cause serious damage and pose a severe threat to the population of Italy. The social and economic impact of floods and landslides in Italy is severe, and strategies to target the mitigation of the effects of these phenomena are needed. In the last few years, the scientific community has started to use...

Inundations and landslides are common phenomena that cause serious damage and pose a severe threat to the population of Italy. The societal and economic impact of landslides and floods in Italy is particularly severe, and strategies that target the mitigation of the effects of these events are essential. Although, in the last few years, the scienti...

Landslides contribute to dismantle active mountain ranges and faults control the location of landslides. Yet, evidence of the long-term, regional dependency of landslides on active faults is limited. Previous studies focused of the transient effects of earthquakes on slope stability in compressive and transcurrent regimes. Here we show that in the...

Analysis of landslide vulnerability is an important issue for landslide risk assessment. We present the results of the application of the Spatial Approach to Vulnerability Assessment (SAVE) for the estimation of the vulnerability in the municipality of Pahuatlán, Mexico. The indigenous population represents the half of the total population. A geomo...

Accurate mapping and measurement of erosion channels is necessary to accurately estimate the impact of channeled erosion in an area. Field surveys can provide optimal quantitative results, but they are only applicable to small areas. Recently, photogrammetric techniques have been applied to small format aerial photographs that were taken by UAVs. F...

Landslide inventory maps (LIMs) show where landslides have occurred in an area, and provide information useful to different types of landslide studies, including susceptibility and hazard modelling and validation, risk assessment, erosion analyses, and to evaluate relationships between landslides and geological settings. Despite recent technologica...

The Tramuntana range, in the northwestern sector of the island of Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Spain), is frequently affected by rockfalls which have caused significant damage, mainly along the road network. In this work, we present the procedure we have applied to calibrate and validate rockfall modelling in this region, using 103 cases of the avai...

Landslide inventory maps (LIMs) show where landslides have occurred in an area, and provide information useful to different types of landslide studies, including susceptibility and hazard modelling and validation, risk assessment, erosion analyses, and to evaluate relationships between landslides and geological settings. Despite recent technologica...

Analysis of landslide vulnerability is an important issue for landslide risk assessment. We present the results of the application of the Spatial Approach to Vulnerability Assessment (SAVE) for the estimation of the vulnerability in the municipality of Pahuatlán, Mexico. The indigenous population represents the half of the total population. A geomo...

In recent years, the analysis of stereo-pairs of Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite images has represented a valid alternative to aerial photographs for landslide recognition and mapping. The availability of images with even higher spatial resolution and improved digital visualization and analysis techniques have encouraged investigators to use s...

nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/14/2589/2014/ doi:10.5194/nhess-14-2589-2014 © Author(s) 2014. CC Attribution 3.0 License. Abstract. Inundations and landslides are widespread phe-nomena in Italy, where they cause severe damage and pose a threat to the population. Little is known about the pub-lic perception of landslide and flood risk. This is surpr...

The r.slope.stability computer model evaluates the slope stability for large areas making use of a modification of the three-dimensional sliding surface model proposed by Hovland and revised and extended by Xie and co-workers. The initial version of the model was modified both to reduce computing time (parallel processing of tiles) and to explore t...

Environmental planning is essential for the development of a region. For this purpose, one of the most commonly used tools in Italy is the municipal development plan (Piano Regolatore Generale, PRG). At strategic level one of the goals of the PRG is to establish a framework of knowledge and legal aspects on the geo-hydrological risk. Concerning lan...

In a hyper-connected and social-networked, world increasingly vulnerable to geo-hydrological risks, communication plays a vital role in all phases of the disaster cycle. Scientific and technological innovation generating new products, tools, and services to cope with geo-hydrological events (e.g., landslides, debris flows and floods) must rely on e...

In recent years, the analysis of stereo-pairs of Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite images has represented a valid alternative to aerial photographs for landslide recognition and mapping. The availability of images with even higher spatial resolution and improved digital visualization and analysis techniques have encouraged investigators to use s...

Inundations and landslides are widespread phenomena in Italy, where they cause severe damage and pose a threat to the population. Little is known on the perception of the population of landslides and floods. This is surprising, as an accurate perception is important for the successful implementation of many risk reduction or adaptation strategies....

We demonstrate the computer model r.rotstab.layers to explore the possibilities of GIS for catchment-scale deep-seated slope stability modelling in complex geology. This model makes use of a modification of the three-dimensional sliding surface model proposed by Hovland and revised and extended by Xie and co-workers. It evaluates the slope stability...

Slope units are portions of land surface, defined by the general requirement of maximizing homogeneity within a single unit and heterogeneity between different units, but whose formal characterization and practical delineation has been done in different ways. This is often justified by the statement that the slope unit partitioning of a territory c...

You can also download your copy here: http://download.springer.com/static/pdf/541/art%253A10.1007%252Fs10346-014-0485-x.pdf?auth66=1396779111_03cdd583a81dd7c66ef23b7da5079bd0&ext=.pdf ABSTRACT Bedding planes are a known factor that controls the type, abundance and pattern of landslides. Where layered rocks crop out, the geometrical relationships b...

Development of landslide inventories based on remote sensing techniques has become one of the main tools in assessment of hazards and risk. Among those techniques, visual and automatic and semi-automatic analysis of high- and very highresolution (VHR) satellite images, or a combination ofthese, has recently been considered as a promising way to ide...

Exploiting to the maximum possible extent the information contained in spatial data, along with specialized and optimized computing intensive analysis processes, is mandatory in order to cope with the challenges posed by the huge amount of existing and upcoming data. Dealing with spatial data and related computing processes can be a hard task for m...

We mapped and characterized 219 mass movements in Valles Marineris. The statistics of landslide area and volume is compared to terrestrial distributions.

Full text of proceedings volume available here: http://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/181865/files/Ertz%20Joost%20Tonini%20(2012)%20OGRS%202012%20Symposium%20Proceedings.pdf pag. 280-287 The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Web Service (WS) standards are technical documents developed for World Wide Web applications designed to share information, an...

The Multitemporal Ts-VI (MTVI) method has been proposed as a modified extension of the well known Temperature-Vegetation Dryness Index (TVDI), taking advantage of the self-consistency of TVDI but at the same time trying to overcome its greatest constraint for better characterizing and monitoring surface soil moisture conditions over large and heter...

Landslide inventory maps are a key issue to document the type and extent of mass movements in small (slope scale) to very large (country scale) areas, for geomorphological studies, and for landslide hazard and risk assessment (Guzzetti et al, 2012 and references therein). Geomorphologists usually prepare landslide inventories by aerial photo interp...

The geomorphological map is an essential tool to perform a proper urban planning in mountainous or hilly areas. In this paper a multidisciplinary approach to derive a 1:2000 geomorphological map is described. The proposed methodology consists of the integration between aerial photographs, acquired in 2003, and four datasets of Persistent Scatterer...

We have developed a tool in R (the free software environment for statistical computing, http://www.r-project.org/) to estimate the probability density and the frequency density of landslide area. The tool implements parametric and non-parametric approaches to the estimation of the probability density and the frequency density of landslide area, inc...

Landslides are present in all continents, and play an important role in the evolution of landscapes. They also represent a serious hazard in many areas of the world. Despite their importance, we estimate that landslide maps cover less than 1% of the slopes in the landmasses, and systematic information on the type, abundance, and distribution of lan...

In Italy, rainfall-induced slope failures occur every year, claiming lives and causing severe economic damage. We have designed and implemented a landslide warning system, named SANF (an acronym for national early warning system for rainfall-induced landslides), to forecast the possible occurrence of rainfall-induced landslides in Italy. The system...

The Ivancich landslide is an ancient phenomenon composed of a stratified detritum mass with fragments of limestone blocks sliding on a substratum of in-place marly-sandstone. The landslide affects a densely inhabited marginal area of the famous historical town of Assisi (Central Italy), producing severe damages to private and public buildings hereb...

An unprecedented spatial detail of the Mars surface is accessible using high and ultra-high-resolution images and data by the High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on-board the ESA Mars Express satellite, by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), on-board the NASA Mars Global Surveyor, and by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE)...

Landslide inventory maps are essential for geomorphological studies, and to evaluate landslide hazard, vulnerability, and risk. Landslide maps, including geomorphological, event, seasonal, and multi-temporal inventory maps, are prepared using different techniques. We present the results of an experiment aimed a testing the possibility of using very...

We tested the possibility of using digital, color aerial ortho-photographs and monoscopic, panchromatic satellite images of comparable spatial and radiometric resolution, to map recent landslides in Italy and to update existing measures of landslide mobilization. In a 90-km2 area in Umbria, central Apennines, rainfall resulted in abundant landslide...

Landslide susceptibility assessment at different scales and in different physiographic environments requires quantitative information on multiple thematic environmental data. Information on bedding attitude proves necessary to define the structural and geological setting of an area. In this study, we developed a procedure to obtain bedding attitude...

In Italy, intense or prolonged rainfall is the primary cause of landslides, and rainfall-induced slope failures occur every year, claiming lives, causing economic disruption, and producing environmental problems. In 2009, rainfall-induced landslides in Italy have caused more than 200 casualties (deaths, missing persons, injured people), in multiple...

A landslide inventory map shows the location and extent of landslides that have left discernable signs in an area. An event-inventory shows landslides caused by a single trigger, such as an earthquake, a rainfall event, or a rapid snowmelt event. Event-inventories are important to document the extent of a landslide disaster, for erosion studies, an...

In Italy, severe meteorologically induced geo-hydrological events are characterized by a complex combination of landslides and floods, and may cause casualties and damage to urban areas and the utility network. On 1 October 2009, a high intensity rainstorm in the Messina area, Sicily, triggered more than 500 shallow landslides in an area of about 6...

Landslide inventory maps are a common type of map used for geomorphological investigations, land planning, and hazard and risk assessment. Landslide inventory maps covering medium to large areas are obtained primarily exploiting traditional geomorphological techniques. These techniques combine the visual and heuristic interpretation of stereoscopic...

Pan-sharpening is gaining an increasing attention in the remote sensing community, and its usefulness have been demonstrated in several environmental applications. A variety of pan-sharpening techniques, aiming at improving the quality of the fused image have been proposed in literature, but the ranking of their efficiency is a difficult task since...

MORFEO, an Italian acronym for Monitoring Landslide Risk exploiting Earth Observation Technology, is a 3-year research and development project of the Italian Space Agency, carried out in the framework of the Italian national earth observation programme. The project primary contract is Carlo Gavazzi Space, a leading enterprise in space technology an...