Matthias Schlögl

• Dr.
• Researcher at BOKU University

Determining and understanding the environmental factors contributing to road traffic accident occurrence is of core importance in road safety research. In this study, a methodology to obtain robust and unbiased results when modeling imbalanced, high-resolution accident data is described. Based on a data set covering the whole highway network of Aus...

In recent years, losses due to torrential flooding have been increasing in the Eastern European Alps, with effects of climate change and settlement growth being postulated root causes. In the context of flood mitigation, however, it remains unclear to which degree loss dynamics can be attributed to these causes. We addressed this question based on...

Satellite radar interferometry is a powerful tool for measuring displacements of the Earth’s surface. However, we recommend to extend the currently prevailing focus on ex-post analyses and monitoring towards ex-ante early warning applications. Underlying challenges and key requirements are discussed.

Generalizing properties of samples derived via data analysis to advance understanding of underlying processes constitutes the essence of statistical inference. This is especially true in geophysical research, where general findings often emerge from case studies. Consequently, statements about trends in case studies should naturally be grounded on...

The analysis of potential influencing factors that affect the likelihood of road accident occurrence has been of major interest for safety researchers throughout the recent decades. Even though steady methodological progresses were made over the years, several impediments pertaining to the statistical analysis of crash data remain. While issues rel...

Effectively communicating uncertainties inherent to statistical models is a challenging yet crucial aspect of the modelling process. This is particularly important in applied research, where output is used and interpreted by scientists and decision-makers alike. In disaster risk reduction, susceptibility maps for natural hazards are vital for spati...

Critical rainfall conditions for the initiation of debris flows are typically investigated in connection with landslides. Here, we approach this issue from the channel perspective. We derive and analyze critical rainfall conditions triggering debris flows and fluvial floods using hourly rainfall estimates based on radar-rain gauge data for over 360...

Statistical landslide susceptibility modelling is commonly used for identifying areas with an increased likelihood of landslide occurrence, given evidence of historic events and a potentially arbitrary number of explanatory features. Despite its widespread use, the actual utility and plausibility of the resulting models and maps is sometimes neglec...

Background Climate change is expected to significantly change wildfire frequency and magnitude, which poses particular challenges for countries with limited experience in managing wildfires, such as Austria. Aims To develop a vulnerability index, this study aims at weighting the characteristics of buildings and their surroundings (vulnerability in...

Effectively communicating uncertainties inherent to statistical models is a challenging yet crucial aspect of the modeling process. This is particularly important in applied research, where output is used and interpreted by scientists and decision makers alike. In disaster risk reduction, susceptibility maps for natural hazards are vital for spatia...

Extreme hydro-meteorological impact events are difficult to predict in space and time as they frequently result from localised, high-intensity convective precipitation events. Societal impacts can occur when extreme precipitation events interact with multiple other geomorpholocial, hydrological and societal predisposing and preparatory factors. Due...

Temperate forests are a substantial sink for the greenhouse gases (GHG) methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2) and soil emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) are low. However, most of these forests are managed with ground-based harvesting systems causing severe soil disturbance. Soil displacement and compaction has a long-term effect on the soil microbial...

Snow avalanches constitute a dangerous natural hazard in snow-clad mountain regions. Spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has emerged as an effective tool for monitoring avalanche activity also in remote areas due to its all-weather capabilities and sensitivity to the presence of avalanche debris. The objective of this study was the applicatio...

The omnipresent threat of natural hazards in mountainous regions has led to a risk culture which requires knowledge about the frequency of the considered hazardous process. Observations suggest that the frequency of debris‐flow events in a single catchment is, beside climatic thresholds, also controlled by its geological, lithological and geomorpho...

In light of ageing infrastructure, structural condition assessment is a key prerequisite for the provision of reliable, safe and performant infrastructure networks. However, full systematic condition inspections across large transport networks are extremely resource intensive. Thus, network-wide continuous structural monitoring is hardly feasible u...

Recent wildfire events (e.g. Mediterranean region, USA, and Australia) showed that this hazard poses a serious threat for wildland–urban interface (WUI) areas around the globe. Furthermore, recent events in regions where wildfire does not constitute a frequent hazard (e.g. Siberia, Scandinavia) indicated that the spatial pattern of wildfire risk mi...

Vulnerability analysis is crucial to assess natural hazard risk. Methods for vulnerability assessment include indices as well as vulnerability curves. Vulnerability curves make use of empirical data to show the relationship between the process intensity and the resulting degree of loss on each affected building whereas vulnerability indices are bas...

We present a comprehensive methodological framework for structural deformation monitoring of critical infrastructure assets based on differential SAR interferometry. By employing persistent scatterer interferometry, deformation time series in line-of-sight are derived from freely available Sentinel-1 single look complex products. These raw time ser...

The knowledge about potential flood damage is a key issue for disaster risk reduction. However, the scarcity of empirical data has limited flood damage modelling in several regions. As a result, studies in data-scarce regions have mostly been restricted to either building exposure assessment or identification of vulnerability indicators without a f...

Im Zentrum dieses Beitrags stehen Stürme, die weltweit, in Europa, im europäischen Alpenraum und in Österreich zu den zerstörerischsten Naturgefahren zählen. Die vorliegende Darstellung befasst sich sowohl physikalisch-konzeptionell mit dem Extremereignis »Sturm«, als auch strategisch mit dessen Auswirkungen und geeigneten Adaptionsmaßnahmen. Nach...

Adaptive behaviour has become a crucial aspect in current flood risk management strategies across the globe, especially in response to potential consequences of flood hazards and facing challenges of climate change. There are several factors which influence the motivation to implement flood risk management strategies such as property-level flood ri...

Earth observation offers a variety of techniques for monitoring and characterizing geomorphic processes in high mountain environments. Terrestrial laserscanning and unmanned aerial vehicles provide very high resolution data with high accuracy. Automatic cameras have become a valuable source of information—mostly in a qualitative manner—in recent ye...

To prepare for upcoming extreme events, decision makers, scientists and other stakeholders require a thorough understanding of the vulnerability of the built environment to natural hazards. A vulnerability index based on building characteristics (indicators) rather than empirical data may be an alternative approach to a comprehensive physical vulne...

Due to an administrative error the incorrect, unrevised version of this paper has appeared online initially and for some time. The original article has now been corrected.

Road infrastructure networks are complex interconnected systems that serve as vital backbones of society. Therefore, upholding traffic safety and fluidity as well as network availability is of core importance, with implications derived therefrom affecting many spheres of life. In the face of climate change, extreme weather events are expected to i...

Die Folgen des Klimawandels für die Gesundheit sind bereits heute spürbar und als zunehmende Bedrohung für die Gesundheit in Österreich einzustufen. Die stärksten Gesundheitsfolgen mit breiter Wirkung sind durch Hitze zu erwarten. Veränderungen in Ökosystemen begünstigen zudem das Auftreten von Pollenallergien und durch Vektoren übertragene Infekti...

Die Folgen des Klimawandels für die Gesundheit sind bereits heute spürbar und als zunehmende Bedrohung für die Gesundheit in Österreich einzustufen. Die stärksten Gesundheitsfolgen mit breiter Wirkung sind durch Hitze zu erwarten. Veränderungen in Ökosystemen begünstigen zudem das Auftreten von Pollenallergien und durch Vektoren übertragene Infekti...

One of the main aims of accident data analysis is to derive the determining factors associated with road traffic accident occurrence. While current studies mainly use variants of count data regression to achieve this aim, the problem can also be considered as a binary classification task, with the dichotomous target variable indicating events (acci...

Lake surface temperature (LST) is a key characteristic of lakes, shaping the ecological properties of these inland water bodies and their environment. This study aims at establishing a long-term, high-quality, monthly LST dataset within the European Alps reaching back to 1880, which is provided to the scientific community for further research. Ther...

Floodings and landslides are amongst the most devastating damage-processes worldwide. Associated risk levels are particularly high in topographically complex terrain. Along with the increase in climate-change induced extreme events, research devoted to the identification of so-called Climate Indices (CIs) describing weather phenomena triggering haz...

Because effects of climate change and an increase in elements at risk, mountain hazard loss increased throughout Europe. Yet, factors influencing loss, i.e. vulnerability, have gained less attention to date. Vulnerability is defined as the degree of loss resulting from the hazard impact on buildings. Recent studies have focused on evaluating vulner...

Road networks are complex interconnected systems. Any sudden disruption can result in debilitating impacts on human life or the economy. In particular, road systems in mountain areas are highly vulnerable, because they often do not feature redundant elements at comparable efficiencies. This paper addresses the impacts of network interruptions cause...

The effects of climate change on health are already being felt today and can be classified as an increasing threat to health in Austria. The most severe and far- reaching effects to be expected are health impacts due to heat. Also changes in ecosystems which influence the distribution, frequency, types and severity of pollen allergies and vector-bo...

This is the pre-print of the Austrian Assessment Report on health, demography and climate change (ASR18) - summary for decision makers and synthesis; language German. English version is in preparation.

In the context of the United Nations’ “Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development” and the presented Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the process of developing and agreeing on indicators to monitor the SDGs implementation becomes fundamental. In this paper, we identify indicators for the sustainable development of cities that have the greatest po...

In the face of climate change, the assessment of land transport infrastructure exposure towards adverse climate events is of major importance for Europe's economic prosperity and social wellbeing. In this study, a climate index estimating rainfall patterns which trigger landslides in central Europe is analysed until the end of this century and comp...

In the face of climate change, the assessment of land transport infrastructure exposure towards adverse climate events is of major importance for Europe's economic prosperity and social wellbeing. Robust and reliable information on the extent of climate change and its projected future impacts on roads and railways are of prime importance for proact...

The assessment of road infrastructure exposure to extreme weather events is of major importance for scientists and practitioners alike. In this study, we compare the different extreme value approaches and fitting methods with respect to their value for assessing the exposure of transport networks to extreme precipitation and temperature impacts. Ba...

The assessment of road infrastructure exposure to extreme weather events is of major importance for scientists and practitioners alike. In this study, we compare the different extreme value approaches and fitting methods with respect to their value for assessing the exposure of transport networks to extreme precipitation and temperature impacts. Ba...

Based on the emissions of 137Cs released into the atmosphere during the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear disaster in March 2011, this paper analyses different statistical parameters for model evaluation and validation; in particular, inverse modeling of source terms and dispersion modeling are investigated. Following an introductory analysis of available...