ALBERT

Description: Global land acquisitions, often dubbed ‘land grabbing’ are increasingly becoming drivers of land change. We use the tools of network science to describe the connectivity of the global acquisition system. We find that 126 countries participate in this form of global land trade. Importers are concentrated in the Global North, the emerging economies of Asia, and the Middle East, while exporters are confined to the Global South and Eastern Europe. A small handful of countries account for the majority of land acquisitions (particularly China, the UK, and the US), the cumulative distribution of which is best described by a power law. We also find that countries with many land trading partners play a disproportionately central role in providing connectivity across the network with the shortest trading path between any two countries traversing either China, the US, or the UK over a third of the time. The land acquisition network is characterized by very few trading cliques and therefore ...

Description: Possible future changes of clustering and return periods (RPs) of European storm series with high potential losses are quantified. Historical storm series are identified using 40 winters of reanalysis. Time series of top events (1, 2 or 5 year return levels (RLs)) are used to assess RPs of storm series both empirically and theoretically. Additionally, 800 winters of general circulation model simulations for present (1960–2000) and future (2060–2100) climate conditions are investigated. Clustering is identified for most countries, and estimated RPs are similar for reanalysis and present day simulations. Future changes of RPs are estimated for fixed RLs and fixed loss index thresholds. For the former, shorter RPs are found for Western Europe, but changes are small and spatially heterogeneous. For the latter, which combines the effects of clustering and event ranking shifts, shorter RPs are found everywhere except for Mediterranean countries. These changes are generally not statisti...

Description: The 2012 drought in Northeast Brazil was the harshest in decades, with potentially significant impacts on the vegetation of the unique semi-arid caatinga biome and on local livelihoods. Here, we use a coupled climate–vegetation model (CCM3-IBIS) to: (1) investigate the role of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans in the 2012 drought, and; (2) evaluate the response of the caatinga vegetation to the 2012 climate extreme. Our results indicate that anomalous sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the Atlantic Ocean were the primary factor forcing the 2012 drought, with Pacific Ocean SST having a larger role in sustaining typical climatic conditions in the region. The drought strongly influenced net primary production in the caatinga, causing a reduction in annual net ecosystem exchange indicating a reduction in amount of CO 2 released to the atmosphere.

Description: Peatlands in Amazonian Peru are known to store large quantities of carbon, but there is high uncertainty in the spatial extent and total carbon stocks of these ecosystems. Here, we use a multi-sensor (Landsat, ALOS PALSAR and SRTM) remote sensing approach, together with field data including 24 forest census plots and 218 peat thickness measurements, to map the distribution of peatland vegetation types and calculate the combined above- and below-ground carbon stock of peatland ecosystems in the Pastaza-Marañon foreland basin in Peru. We find that peatlands cover 35 600 ± 2133 km 2 and contain 3.14 (0.44–8.15) Pg C. Variation in peat thickness and bulk density are the most important sources of uncertainty in these values. One particular ecosystem type, peatland pole forest, is found to be the most carbon-dense ecosystem yet identified in Amazonia (1391 ± 710 Mg C ha −1 ). The novel approach of combining optical and radar remote sensing with above- and below-groun...

Description:    Natural hazard assessments are always subject to uncertainties due to missing knowledge about the complexity of hazardous processes as well as their natural variability. Decision-makers in the field of natural hazard management need to understand the concept, components, sources, and implications of existing uncertainties in order to reach informed and transparent decisions. Until now, however, only few hazard maps include uncertainty visualizations which would be much needed for an enhanced communication among experts and decision-makers in order to make informed decisions possible. In this paper, an analysis of how uncertainty is currently treated and communicated by Swiss natural hazards experts is presented. The conducted expert survey confirmed that the communication of uncertainty has to be enhanced, possibly with the help of uncertainty visualizations. However, in order to visualize the spatial characteristics of uncertainty, existing uncertainties need to be quantified. This challenge is addressed by the exemplary simulation of a snow avalanche event using a deterministic model and quantified uncertainties with a sensitivity analysis. Suitable visualization methods for the resulting spatial variability of the uncertainties are suggested, and the advantages and disadvantages of their implementation in an interactive cartographic information system are discussed. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-17 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9864-y Authors Melanie Kunz, Institute of Cartography and Geoinformation, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland Adrienne Grêt-Regamey, Planning of Landscape and Urban Systems, Institute for Spatial and Landscape Planning, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland Lorenz Hurni, Institute of Cartography and Geoinformation, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    The present work addresses the problem of lack of coordination between policies and actors with joint competence for risk management, i.e., civil protection, spatial planning, and sectoral planning (e.g., forest policy in the case of forest fire risk). Spatial planning in particular is assigned a minor or no role at all though it might perfectly operate as the coordinating policy platform; the reason is that spatially relevant analysis and policy guidance is an omnipresent component of the risk management cycle. However, disconnected risk relevant policies turning a blind eye to spatial planning might cause several adverse repercussions: Breaks in the response-preparedness-prevention-remediation chain (which should function as a continuum), minimal attention to prevention, risk expansion and growth instead of mitigation, lack of synergies between involved actors as well as duplicated or even diverging measures and funding. The authors bear witness to the above suggestions by examining three cases of European (regional and local) risk management systems faced with failures when confronting natural hazards (floods and forest fires). These three systems are embedded in different types of political-administrative structures, namely those of the city of Dortmund (Germany) facing floods, Eastern Attica region (Greece), and Lazio Region (Italy) facing forest fires. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-30 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9843-3 Authors Kalliopi Sapountzaki, Department of Geography, Harokopio University of Athens, Athens, Greece Sylvia Wanczura, Institute of Fire Service and Rescue Technologies, Fire Department of Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany Gabriella Casertano, Regione Lazio, Dipartimento della Protezione Civile, Rome, Italy Stefan Greiving, Technical University of Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany Gavriil Xanthopoulos, National Agricultural Research Foundation, Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems and Forest Products Technology, Athens, Greece Floriana F. Ferrara, T6 Ecosystems srl, Rome, Italy Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    A practical, DEM-based practical method is proposed to enhance flood risk management in fluvial areas by quantifying relative risk as a function of vulnerability to inland and evacuation difficulty. Both measures are based mainly on the topography of the region, so the method does not require detailed data on the physical characteristics of the land. First, we use the deterministic 8-node method on a digital elevation map (DEM) to trace storm waterways. Second, we repeat the process on a reversed DEM to trace evacuation routes that avoid the waterways and zones dangerously close to the rivers. Finally, on the basis of such two flow lines of evacuee and storm water, we proposed the protocol to evaluate the flood risk at every point on the map taking into account both the minimum time required for floodwater to arrive and duration of an evacuation from that location. The time that must be allocated for safe evacuation is defined as the potential flood risk of evacuation (PFRE). The method is demonstrated on a fluvial area of the Kaki River in Nagaoka city, Japan. In addition, we illustrated the application of the PFRE map to divide the region into areas of greater or lesser evacuation urgency. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9852-2 Authors Jinyoung Kim, Department of Urban Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-8656 Japan Yuji Kuwahara, Ibaraki University, Ibaraki, Japan Manish Kumar, Tezpur University, Napaam, Assam 784 028, India Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Earthquake-induced landslides can cause a large number of casualties and great economic loss. Presently, research methods for studying landslides are largely based on a framework of solid mechanics. In this work, visualization software, known as Visual SPH, is developed in Visual Basic 6.0, and can be used to analyze the fluidized movement of landslides based on smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). First, the accuracy of the software is verified through simulating a benchmark problem of a dam-break. Then, fluidized movement analysis of the Tangjiashan landslide is carried out using this software. The simulation derives plots of displacement versus time, reproduces the entire flow process of the Tangjiashan landslide, and determines the run-out, which coincides exactly with the characteristics of flow-like landslides observed in the field. All of these are essential in the design of supporting structures and site selection for reconstruction in earthquake-prone regions. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9859-8 Authors Yu Huang, Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092 China Zili Dai, Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, 200092 Shanghai, China Weijie Zhang, Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, 200092 Shanghai, China Zhiyi Chen, Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092 China Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Marine overwash from the north a few centuries ago transported hundreds of angular cobbles and boulders tens to hundreds of meters southward from limestone outcrops in the interior of Anegada, 140 km east–northeast of Puerto Rico. We examined two of several cobble and boulder fields as part of an effort to interpret whether the overwash resulted from a tsunami or a storm in a location where both events are known to occur. One of the cobble and boulder field extends 200 m southward from limestone outcrops that are 300 m inland from the island’s north shore. The other field extends 100 m southward from a limestone knoll located 800 m from the nearest shore. In the two fields, we measured the size, orientation, and spatial distribution of a total of 161 clasts and determined their stratigraphic positions with respect to an overwash sand and shell sheet deposit. In both fields, we found the spacing between clasts increased southward and that clast long-axis orientations are consistent with a transport trending north–south. Almost half the clasts are partially buried in a landward thinning and fining overwash sand and none were found embedded in the shelly mud of a pre-overwash marine pond. The two cobble and boulder fields resemble modern tsunami deposits in which dispersed clasts extend inland as a single layer. The fields contrast with coarse clast storm deposits that often form wedge-shaped shore-parallel ridges. These comparisons suggest that the overwash resulted from a tsunami and not from a storm. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9848-y Authors Steve Watt, U.S. Geological Survey, 400 Natural Bridges Drive, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA Mark Buckley, U.S. Geological Survey, 400 Natural Bridges Drive, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA Bruce Jaffe, U.S. Geological Survey, 400 Natural Bridges Drive, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Improvements in hurricane forecasts allowing for more timely evacuations from storm-surge zones are credited with reducing lethality of US landfalling hurricanes. The deadly reach of a hurricane, however, is not limited to storm-surge zones. About 80% of direct US hurricane fatalities since 1970 occurred outside of landfall counties, with most of these fatalities caused by inland flooding. We construct a geographic information system database combining the location and cause of fatalities, estimated wind speeds, and rainfall amounts for the entire track of the storm for landfalling US hurricanes between 1970 and 2007. We analyze the determinants of total fatalities and deaths due to freshwater drowning and wind. Inclusion of inland fatalities results in no downward trend in lethality over the period, in contrast to prior research. Local storm conditions significantly affect lethality, as one-inch and one-knot increases in rainfall and wind increase total fatalities by 28 and 4%. Rainfall significantly increases freshwater-drowning deaths and is insignificant for wind deaths, while the opposite relation holds for wind speed. While coastal counties do not exhibit a significantly higher amount of lethality risk versus inland counties for total or wind-driven fatalities, freshwater-drowning fatalities occur most frequently in inland counties along the center of the storm path and its outer county tiers as we have defined them. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-19 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9849-x Authors Jeffrey Czajkowski, Department of Economics, Austin College, Sherman, TX, USA Kevin Simmons, Department of Economics, Austin College, Sherman, TX, USA Daniel Sutter, Department of Economics and Finance, University of Texas - Pan American, Edinburg, TX, USA Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    This study explored demographic variations among victims injured in the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. The study analyzed records of 2,148 patients who were hospitalized with earthquake-related injuries in 14 hospitals between May 12 and May 21 of 2008. We tested the effects of gender and age on the incidence of fractures and amputations. Although more women than men were hospitalized as earthquake victims, the results indicated that a higher incidence of pelvic fracture in women was the only statistically significant injury with regard to gender. Age had a more complex effect on the rate and pattern of fractures. Children younger than 15 years old were the most likely to sustain skull fractures and amputations. The elderly were the most likely to be associated with limb fractures. Adult men were the most likely to suffer spine fractures and adult women rib fractures. The paper concludes with an interpretation of the results in the context of China’s rural conditions and discusses implications for post-disaster emergency operations and planning. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-19 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9836-2 Authors Ying Cao, College of Architecture and Environment, Sichuan University, No. 24 South Section 1, Yihuan Road, Chengdu, 610065 China Nabil Kamel, School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University, Coor Hall, 975 S. Myrtle Ave., Fifth Floor, P.O. Box 875302, Tempe, AZ 85287-5302, USA Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Following the catastrophic and devastating Atlantic Hurricane seasons in 2004 and 2005, there has been increased interest in formulating planning directives and policy aimed at minimizing the societal impacts of future storms. Not all populations will evacuate an area forecast to be affected by a hurricane, so emergency managers must plan for these people who remain behind. Such planning includes making food, water, ice, and other provisions available at strategic locations throughout an affected area. Recent research has tackled problems related to humanitarian and relief goods distribution with respect to hurricanes. Experience shows that the torrential rains and heavy winds associated with hurricanes can severely damage transportation network infrastructure rendering it unusable. Scanning the literature on hurricane disaster relief provision, there are no studies that expressly consider the potential damage that may be caused to a transportation network by strong storms. This paper examines the impacts of simulated network failures on hurricane disaster relief planning strategies, using a smaller Florida City as an example. A relief distribution protocol is assumed where goods distribution points are set up in pre-determined locations following the passage of a storm. Simulation results reveal that modest disruptions to the transportation network produce marked changes in the number and spatial configuration of relief facilities. At the same time, the transportation network appears to be robust and is able to support relief service provision even at elevated levels of hypothesized disruption. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9855-z Authors Mark W. Horner, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA Michael J. Widener, University at Buffalo, 105 Wilkeson Quad, Buffalo, NY 14261-0001, USA Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Although the risk of flooding poses a serious threat to the Dutch public, citizens are not very inclined to engage in self-protective behaviors. Current risk communication tries to enhance these self-protective behaviors among citizens, but is nonetheless not very successful. The level of citizens engaging in self-protective actions remains rather low. Therefore, this research strives to determine the factors that might enhance or lessen the intention to engage in self-protection among citizens. The study was a 2 (flood risk: high vs low) × 2 (efficacy beliefs: high vs low) between subject experiment. It was conducted to test how varying levels of flood risk and efficacy beliefs influence two different self-protective behaviors, namely information seeking and the intention to engage in risk mitigating or preventive behaviors. Furthermore, the relationship between information seeking and the intention to take self-protective actions was discussed. Results showed that high levels of flood risk lead to higher levels of both information seeking and the intention to engage in self-protective behaviors than low levels of flood risk. For efficacy beliefs, the same trend occurred. Also, results showed that information seeking seems to coincide with the intention to take preventive actions and acted as a mediator between the levels of perceived risk and efficacy and the intention to take self-protective actions. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9845-1 Authors Milou Kievik, Saxion, University for Applied Sciences, PO Box 70.000, 7500 KB Enschede, The Netherlands Jan M. Gutteling, University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Much progress has been made in the area of tropical cyclone prediction using high-resolution mesoscale models based on community models developed at National Centers for Environmental Predication (NCEP) and National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). While most of these model research and development activities are focused on predicting hurricanes in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific domains, there has been much interest in using these models for tropical cyclone prediction in the North Indian Ocean region, particularly for Bay of Bengal storms that are known historically causing severe damage to life and property. In this study, the advanced operational hurricane modeling system developed at NCEP, known as the Hurricane Weather Research and Forecast (HWRF) model, is used to simulate two recent Bay of Bengal tropical cyclones—Nargis of November 2007 and Sidr of April 2008. The advanced NCEP operational vortex initialization procedure is adapted for simulating these Bay of Bengal tropical cyclones. Two additional regional models, the NCAR Advanced Research WRF and NCAR/Penn State University Mesoscale Model version 5 (MM5) are also used in simulating these storms. Results from these experiments highlight the superior performance of HWRF model over other models in predicting the Bay of Bengal cyclones. These results also suggest the need for a sophisticated vortex initialization procedure in conjunction with a model designed exclusively for tropical cyclone prediction for operational considerations. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-19 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9839-z Authors D. V. Bhaskar Rao, TLGVRC, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS 39217, USA Vijay Tallapragada, NCEP/EMC, 5200 Auth Road, Camp Springs, MD 20746, USA Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Landslides interacting with large infrastructures represent a major problem for the economy, society as a whole, and the safety of workers. Continuous monitoring for 23 months using an integrated platform with a ground-based SAR interferometer (GB-InSAR), a weather station, and an automatic camera gave us the opportunity to analyze the response of an unstable slope to the different phases of work. The deformational behavior of both the natural slope and the man-made structures was recorded and interpreted in relation to the working stages and the rainfall conditions during the whole monitoring period. A typical pattern of displacement was identified for shallow landslides, debris produced by the excavation and gabions, metallic walls, and anchored bulkheads. Furthermore, insights into the dynamics and behavior of the slope and the man-made structures that interact with the landslide were obtained. Extreme rainfall is the main trigger of shallow landslides and gabion deformations, while anchored bulkheads are less influenced by rainfalls. Movement of debris that is produced by excavations and temporary metallic barrier deformation are closely related to each other. The herein proposed monitoring platform is very efficient in monitoring unstable slopes that are affected by human activities. Moreover, the recorded patterns of displacement in the slope and the man-made structures can be used as reference data for similar studies and engineering designs. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-20 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9840-6 Authors Francesca Bozzano, CERI, Research Centre on Prevention, Prediction and Control of Geological Risks, P.zza U. Pilozzi 9, 00038 Valmontone, Italy Ivan Cipriani, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, “Sapienza” Università di Roma, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy Paolo Mazzanti, CERI, Research Centre on Prevention, Prediction and Control of Geological Risks, P.zza U. Pilozzi 9, 00038 Valmontone, Italy Alberto Prestininzi, CERI, Research Centre on Prevention, Prediction and Control of Geological Risks, P.zza U. Pilozzi 9, 00038 Valmontone, Italy Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    In the midst of the ever-increasing natural and human-induced disasters, where many of the preparedness and mitigation measures show inefficiencies, there is narrow margin for decision-makers to make mistakes by misallocating budgets, designing infeasible reconstruction plans, and in other terms, making decisions not in line with the public preferences. In particular, public participation in post-disaster measures seems undoubtedly necessary to reduce the possible economic, social, political, and cultural conflicts around the stressful community after a major disaster. This paper aims at evaluating the role of public participation in increasing the reconstruction phase efficiency through a case study of the reconstruction process in Bam, a southeastern Iranian city, after the 2003 earthquake. It is attempted to identify the major motivators of the public participation through a combination of quantitative and qualitative studies. Statistical data are generated through a set of questionnaires being filled by a number of 200 randomly selected survivors. The numerical results were then discussed through the Focus Group technique sessions to determine the main contributors to the public participation. It is later found that the answers are found among the performance of the reconstruction authorities, financial policies, emotional resiliency of the survivors, public information mechanisms, public satisfaction, the pace of reconstruction, and temporary housing policies. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9842-4 Authors Babak Omidvar, Graduate Faculty of Environment, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 14155-6135, Tehran, Iran Hossein Zafari, Housing Foundation of Islamic Revolution, Tehran, Iran Mehdi Khakpour, Graduate Faculty of Environment, University of Tehran, P.O. Box 14155-6135, Tehran, Iran Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    After the 2004 Sumatra–Andaman tsunamigenic earthquake, waters from the ocean moved upstream along rivers, bays, harbors, and lagoons and inundated many coastal and inland locations in the southern, eastern, and northern parts of Sri Lanka. The tsunami waters were observed to move upwards inland and then recede downwards to the ocean after varying inundation periods in different coastal areas. Subsequent massive tsunami waves came with the wave height varying from 3 to 8 m inland with speed of about 30–40 kmph. The oceanic waves carrying heterogeneous sediments with water deposited them in coastal as well as inland locations about 1 km from the present coastline. Given the chaotic nature of tsunami oceanic waves, pre-tsunami deposits, such as beach sands, debris from coral reefs and buildings, parts of vehicles and ships, and tree trunks are found incorporated in authentic tsunami sediments. Thus, the texture, structure, and composition of sediments deposited by tsunami waters differed from one location to another. Therefore, in identifying paleo-tsunami sediments, care was taken to compare them with diagnostic unmixed uncontaminated recent tsunami sediments having characteristic textures and marine microfossil assemblages, such as foraminifera, radiolarians, and diatoms where preserved in coastal depressions. The radiocarbon ages of the carbonate and the organic fractions of these sediments are stratigraphically inconsistent, indicating mixing of sediments by the tsunami waves. The concentrations of organic carbon and nitrogen and their isotopic signatures confirm marine origin of these sediments. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9824-6 Authors Kapila Dahanayake, Department of Geology, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka Nayomi Kulasena, Roughton International (UK), Southern Transport Development Project, Baddegama, Sri Lanka G. V. Ravi Prasad, AMS Radiocarbon Laboratory, Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar, 751005 India Koushik Dutta, AMS Radiocarbon Laboratory, Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar, 751005 India D. K. Ray, AMS Radiocarbon Laboratory, Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar, 751005 India Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Assessment and inventory on soil erosion hazard are essential for the formulation of successful hazard mitigation plans and sustainable development. The objective of this study was to assess and map soil erosion hazard in Lesser Himalaya with a case study. The Dabka watershed constitutes a part of the Kosi Basin in the Lesser Himalaya, India, in district Nainital has been selected for the case illustration. The average rate of erosion hazard is 0.68 mm/year or 224 tons/km 2 /year. Anthropogenic and geo-environmental factors have together significantly accelerated the rate of erosion. This reconnaissance study estimates the erosion rate over the period of 3 years (2006–2008) as 1.21 mm/year (398 tons/km 2 /year) in the barren land having geological background of diamictite, siltstone and shale rocks, 0.92 mm/year (302 tons/km 2 /year) in the agricultural land with lithology of diamictite, slates, siltstone, limestone rocks, while in the forest land, it varies between 0.20 mm/year (66 tons/km 2 /year) under dense forest land having the geology of quartzwacke and quartrenite rocks and 0.40 mm/year (132 tons/km 2 /year) under open forest/shrubs land having geological setup of shale, dolomite and gypsum rocks. Compared to the intensity of erosion in the least disturbed dense forest, the erosion rate is about 5–6 times higher in the most disturbed agricultural land and barren land, respectively. The erosion hazard zones delineated following scalogram modelling approach. Integrated scalogram modelling approach resulted in severe classes of soil erosion hazard in the study area with numerical values of Erosion Hazard Index (EHI) ranging between 01 (very low hazard) and 5 (very high hazard). Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-21 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9833-5 Authors Pradeep K. Rawat, Department of Geography, Kumaun University, Nainital, 263002 India P. C. Tiwari, Department of Geography, Kumaun University, Nainital, 263002 India C. C. Pant, Department of Geology, Kumaun University, Nainital, 263002 India A. K. Sharama, Department of Geology, Kumaun University, Nainital, 263002 India P. D. Pant, Department of Geology, Kumaun University, Nainital, 263002 India Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Soil erosion is a serious environmental problem in Indravati catchment. It carries the highest amount of sediments compared with other catchments in India. This catchment spreading an area of 41,285 km 2 is drained by river Indravati, which is one of the northern tributaries of the river Godavari in its lower reach. In the present study, USLE is used to estimate potential soil erosion from river Indravati catchment. Both magnitude and spatial distribution of potential soil erosion in the catchment is determined. The derived soil loss map from USLE model is classified into six categories ranging from slight to very severe risk depending on the calculated soil erosion amount. The soil erosion map is linked to elevation and slope maps to identify the area for conservation practice in order to reduce the soil loss. From the model output predictions, it is found that average erosion rate predicted is 18.00 tons/ha/year and sediment yield at the out let of the catchment is 22.30 Million tons per annum. The predicted sediment yield verified with the observed data. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-17 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9832-6 Authors Sreenivasulu Vemu, Department of Civil Engineering, JNT University, Kakinada, 533003 AP, India Udaya Bhaskar Pinnamaneni, Department of Civil Engineering, JNT University, Kakinada, 533003 AP, India Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    This paper introduces a new metric for tropical cyclone track shape within the tropical South Pacific (TSP) basin, based on measurements of track sinuosity. A sinuosity index (SI) is developed by applying a simple cube-root transformation to original track sinuosity values. Based on the resulting near-normal SI distribution, an ordinal four-category (quartile) naming system is then proposed for track-type classification. Track sinuosity patterns are also investigated over the last four decades (1970–2008). Analytical findings suggest that cyclone track sinuosity is an important parameter influencing the potential vulnerability of island archipelagoes to cyclone hazard. Principally, sinuously moving cyclones show some tendency for greater longevity and intensity than straighter-tracking storms and make up a larger proportion of systems forming in the western tropical South Pacific than those generated farther east. Although no long-term statistical trend can be established, track sinuosity is highly variable through time, implying that the TSP basin and the islands therein will continue to experience large but irregular inter-annual fluctuations in cyclone track morphology. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9827-3 Authors James P. Terry, Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, AS2, 1 Arts Link, Kent Ridge, 117570 Singapore Gennady Gienko, Department of Geomatics, School of Engineering, University of Alaska Anchorage, 3211 Providence Drive, Anchorage, AK 99508-4514, USA Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    The level of damage of flood events does not solely depend on exposure to flood waters. Vulnerabilities due to various socio-economic factors such as population at risk, public awareness, and presence of early warning systems, etc. should also be taken into account. Federal and state agencies, watershed management coalitions, insurance companies, need reliable decision support system to evaluate flood risk, to plan and design flood damage assessment and mitigation systems. In current practice, flood damage evaluations are generally carried out based on results obtained from one dimensional (1D) numerical simulations. In some cases, however, 1D simulation is not able to accurately capture the dynamics of the flood events. The present study describes a decision support system, which is based on 2D flood simulation results obtained with CCHE2D-FLOOD. The 2D computational results are complemented with information from various resources, such as census block layer, detailed survey data, and remote sensing images, to estimate loss of life and direct damages (meso or micro scale) to property under uncertainty. Flood damage calculations consider damages to residential, commercial, and industrial buildings in urban areas, and damages to crops in rural areas. The decision support system takes advantage of fast raster layer operations in a GIS platform to generate flood hazard maps based on various user-defined criteria. Monte Carlo method based on an event tree analysis is introduced to account for uncertainties in various parameters. A case study illustrates the uses of the proposed decision support system. The results show that the proposed decision support system allows stake holders to have a better appreciation of the consequences of the flood. It can also be used for planning, design, and evaluation of future flood mitigation measures. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-19 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9822-8 Authors Honghai Qi, National Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering (NCCHE), The University of Mississippi, University, Oxford, MS 38677, USA M. S. Altinakar, National Center for Computational Hydroscience and Engineering (NCCHE), The University of Mississippi, University, Oxford, MS 38677, USA Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    In this paper, we present a probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) for mainland Spain that takes into account recent new results in seismicity, seismic zoning, and strong ground attenuation not considered in the latest PSHA of the Spanish Building Code. Those new input data have been obtained as a three-step project carried out in order to improve the existing hazard map for mainland Spain. We have produced a new earthquake catalogue for the area, in which the earthquakes are given in moment magnitude through specific deduced relationships for our territory based on intensity data (Mezcua et al. in Seismol Res Lett 75:75–81, 2004 ). In addition, we included a new seismogenetic zoning based on the recent partial zoning studies performed by different authors. Finally, as we have developed a new strong ground motion model for the area García Blanco ( 2009 ), it was considered in the hazard calculation together with other attenuations gathered from different authors using data compatible with our region. With this new data, a logic tree process is defined to quantify the epistemic uncertainty related to those parts of the process. A sensitivity test has been included in order to analyze the different models of ground motion and seismotectonic zonation used in this work. Finally, after applying a weighting scheme, a mean hazard map for PGA, based on rock type condition for 10% exceedance probability in 50 years, is presented, including 15th and 85th percentile hazard maps. The main differences with the present official building code hazard map are analyzed. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-22 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9819-3 Authors Julio Mezcua, Instituto Geográfico Nacional, General Ibáñez de Ibero 3, 28003 Madrid, Spain Juan Rueda, Instituto Geográfico Nacional, General Ibáñez de Ibero 3, 28003 Madrid, Spain Rosa M. García Blanco, Departamento de Ingeniería Topográfica y Cartografía, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Campus Sur, Autovía de Valencia km 7.5, 28031 Madrid, Spain Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Earthquake-induced landslides are responsible worldwide for significant socioeconomic losses and historically have a prominent position in the list of natural hazards affecting the Iran plateau. As a step toward the development of tools for the assessment and the management of this kind of hazard at regional scale, an empirical estimator of coseismic displacements along potential sliding surfaces was obtained through a regression analysis for the Zagros region, a mountainous Iranian region subjected to earthquake-induced landslides. This estimator, based on the Newmark’s model, allows to evaluate the expected permanent displacement (named “Newmark displacement”) induced by seismic shaking of defined energy on potential sliding surface characterized by a given critical acceleration. To produce regression models for Newmark displacement estimators, a data set was constructed for different critical acceleration values on the basis of 108 accelerometric recordings from 80 Iranian earthquakes with moment magnitudes between 3.6 and 7. The empirical estimator has a general form, proposed by Jibson (Eng Geol 91:209–218, 2007 ), relating Newmark displacement to Arias intensity (as parameter representing the energy of the seismic forces) and to critical acceleration (as parameter representing the dynamic shear resistance of the sliding mass). As an example of application, this relation was employed to provide a basic document for earthquake-induced landslide hazard assessment at regional scale, according to a method proposed by Del Gaudio et al. (Bull Seismol Soc Am 93:557–569, 2003 ), applied to the whole Iranian territory, including Zagros region. This method consists in evaluating the shear resistance required to slopes to limit the occurrence of seismically induced failures, on the basis of the Newmark’s model. The obtained results show that the exposure to landslide seismic induction is maximum in the Alborz Mountains region, where critical accelerations up to ~0.1 g are required to limit the probability of seismic triggering of coherent type landslides within 10% in 50 years. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9829-1 Authors Ali M. Rajabi, Civil Engineering Department, Qom University, PO Box 14115-175, Qom, Iran Mohammad R. Mahdavifar, Geotechnical Engineering Research Center, International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (IIEES), PO Box 19395-3913, Tehran, Iran M. Khamehchiyan, Engineering Geology Department, Tarbiat Modares University, PO Box 14115-175, Tehran, Iran V. Del Gaudio, Dipartimento di Geologia e Geofisica, Universita` degli Studi di Bari, Campus, via E.Orabona 4, 70125 Bari, Italy Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    This paper presents the development of the Coastal Community Social Vulnerability Index (CCSVI) in order to quantify the social vulnerability of hurricane-prone areas under various scenarios of climate change. The 2004–2005 Atlantic hurricane seasons is estimated to have caused 150 billion dollars in damages , and in recent years , the annual hurricane damage in the United States is estimated at around 6 billion. Hurricane intensity or/and frequency may change due to the increase in sea surface temperature as a result of climate change. Climate change is also predicted to cause a rise in sea levels, potentially resulting in higher storm surges. The CCSVI combines the intensity of hurricanes and hurricane-induced surge to create a comprehensive index that considers the effects of a changing climate. The main contributing factors of social vulnerability (such as race, age, gender, and socioeconomic status) in hurricane-prone areas are identified through a principal components analysis. The impact of social characteristics on the potential hurricane damage under various scenarios of climate change are evaluated using Miami-Dade County, Florida, as a case study location. This study finds that climate change may have a significant impact on the CCSVI. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-21 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9817-5 Authors Sigridur Bjarnadottir, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA Yue Li, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA Mark G. Stewart, Center for Infrastructure Performance and Reliability, School of Engineering, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    In this paper, the applicability of the Newmark method at regional, sub-regional and site scales has been investigated in the Lorca Basin (Murcia). This basin is located in one of the most seismically active regions of Spain. The area is very interesting for studying earthquake-induced slope instabilities as there are well-known cases associated with specific earthquakes. For the regional and sub-regional scales, a geographic information system has been used to develop an implementation of Newmark sliding rigid block method. Soil and topographic amplification effects have been particularly considered. Subsequently, ‘Newmark displacement’ maps for deterministic seismic scenarios have been produced. Some specific studies have also been performed using limit equilibrium methods to estimate the safety factor and the critical acceleration of certain slope instabilities at a site scale. These instabilities were the rock slides related to recent seismic series at the Lorca Basin: 2002 Bullas ( M w  = 5.0) and 2005 La Paca ( M w  = 4.8). Finally, the safety factor, critical acceleration and Newmark displacement values estimated at different scales have been compared to determine which scale is most suitable for the Newmark method. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9820-x Authors Martín Jesús Rodríguez-Peces, Departamento de Geodinámica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, C/Fuentenueva s/n, 18002 Granada, Spain José Luis Pérez-García, Departamento de Ingeniería Cartográfica, Geodésica y Fotogrametría, Universidad de Jaén, Campus de las Lagunillas, s/n. Edif. A3, 23071 Jaén, Spain Julián García-Mayordomo, Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (IGME), C/La Calera, 1, 28760 Tres Cantos, Madrid, Spain José Miguel Azañón, Departamento de Geodinámica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, C/Fuentenueva s/n, 18002 Granada, Spain Juan Miguel Insua-Arévalo, Departamento de Geodinámica, Facultad de Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain Jorge Delgado-García, Departamento de Ingeniería Cartográfica, Geodésica y Fotogrametría, Universidad de Jaén, Campus de las Lagunillas, s/n. Edif. A3, 23071 Jaén, Spain Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    The present study explored the effect of assimilation of Advanced TIROS Vertical Sounder (ATOVS) temperature and humidity profiles and Spectral sensor microwave imager (SSM/I) total precipitable water (TPW) on the simulation of a monsoon depression which formed over the Arabian Sea during September 2005 using the Weather Research and Forecast model. The three-dimensional variational (3DVAR) data assimilation technique has been employed for the purpose of assimilation of satellite observations. Statistical scores like “equitable threat score,” “bias score,” “forecast impact,” and “improvement parameter” have been used to examine the impact of the above-mentioned satellite observations on the numerical simulation of a monsoon depression. The diagnostics of this study include verification of the vertical structure of depression, in terms of temperature anomaly profiles and relative vorticity profiles with observations/analysis. Additional diagnostics of the study include the analysis of the heat budget and moisture budget. Such budget studies have been performed to provide information on the role of cumulus convection associated with the depression. The results of this study show direct and good evidence of the impact of the assimilation of the satellite observations using 3DVAR on the dynamical and thermodynamical features of a monsoon depression along with the effect of inclusion of satellite observation on the spatial pattern of the simulated precipitation associated with the depression. The “forecast impact” parameter calculated for the wind speed provides good evidence of the positive impact of the assimilation of ATOVS temperature and humidity profiles and SSM/I TPW on the model simulation, with the assimilation of the ATOVS profiles showing better impact in terms of a more positive value of the “forecast impact” parameter. The results of the study also indicate the improvement of the forecast skill in terms of “equitable threat score” and “bias score” due to the assimilation of satellite observation. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-23 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9857-x Authors M. Govindankutty, Department of Physics and Meteorology, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India A. Chandrasekar, Department of Earth and Space Sciences, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, India Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Highways and railroads situated within rugged terrain are often subjected to the hazard of rockfalls. The task of assessing roadside rockmasses for potential hazards typically involves an on-site visual investigation of the rockmass by an engineer or geologist. At that time, numerous parameters associated with discontinuity orientations and spacing, block size (volume) and shape distributions, slope geometry, and ditch profile are either measured or estimated. Measurements are typically tallied according to a formal hazard rating system, and a hazard level is determined for the site. This methodology often involves direct exposure of the evaluating engineer to the hazard and can also create a potentially non-unique record of the assessed slope based on the skill, knowledge and background of the evaluating engineer. Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR)–based technologies have the capability to produce spatially accurate, high-resolution digital models of physical objects, known as point clouds. Mobile terrestrial LiDAR equipment can collect, at traffic speed, roadside data along highways and rail lines, scanning continual distances of hundreds of kilometres per day. Through the use of mobile terrestrial LiDAR, in conjunction with airborne and static systems for problem areas, rockfall hazard analysis workflows can be modified and optimized to produce minimally biased, repeatable results. Traditional rockfall hazard analysis inputs include two distinct, but related sets of variables related to geological or geometric control. Geologically controlled inputs to hazard rating systems include kinematic stability (joint identification/orientation) and rock block shape and size distributions. Geometrically controlled inputs include outcrop shape and size, road, ditch and outcrop profile, road curvature and vehicle line of sight. Inputs from both categories can be extracted or calculated from LiDAR data, although there are some limitations and special sampling and processing considerations related to structural character of the rockmass, as detailed in this paper. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-34 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9872-y Authors Matthew J. Lato, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Oslo, Norway Mark S. Diederichs, Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada D. Jean Hutchinson, Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada Rob Harrap, Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    A rock slide on top of the clayey–silty–sandy–pebbly masses in the Gschliefgraben (Upper Austria province, Lake Traunsee) having occurred in 2006, together with the humid autumn of 2007, triggered a mudslide comprising a volume up to 4 million m³ and moving with a maximum displacement velocity of 5 m/day during the winter of 2007–2008. The possible damage was estimated up to 60 million € due to the possible destruction of houses and of a road to a settlement with intense tourism. The movement front ran ahead in the creek bed. Therefore, it was assumed that water played an important role. Inclinometer measurements showed that a less permeable layer was sliding on a thin, more permeable layer. During the last centuries, mudslides had already pushed farms into the lake, as reported by chronicles. Thus, the inhabitants of 46 houses had to be evacuated for safety reasons. They could return to their homes after displacement velocities had decreased. It was decided (a) to prevent soaking of water into the uppermost, less permeable layer by transversal drainages, (b) to lower the pore water pressures by longitudinal trenches filled with blocky material, (c) to pump water out of the more permeable layer by well drillings upslope of the houses in order to create a stable block below the houses and (d) to remove material thrust over the stable blocks in order to avoid damage to the houses. These mitigation measures costing 11.5 million € led to a deceleration of the process to displacement velocities of some cm/year up to now. The houses and the road were not damaged. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9865-x Authors R. Poisel, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria R. Hofmann, Geotechnical Engineering Hofmann, Perchtoldsdorf, Austria A. Preh, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria T. Sausgruber, Austrian Service for Torrent, Erosion and Avalanche Control, Geological Service, Innsbruck, Austria M. Schiffer, Austrian Service for Torrent, Erosion and Avalanche Control, Project Management Salzkammergut, Bad Ischl, Austria Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    The rainfall events that occurred in the Cubatão do Norte River watershed, Santa Catarina State, Brazil, in 2008, were characterized by both high intensities and amounts and triggered landslides in this watershed. The objective of the present study was to analyze the influence of landslides on the turbidity and the total solid concentration (TS) in this river using turbidity, TS, and river discharge data obtained from March 23, 2008, to June 11, 2010. The comparison between turbidity and discharge patterns implies that the landslide process was not continuous and increased the turbidity intermittently and irregularly. The sediment yield during the landslide occurrence was approximately five times higher than without the landslide, even though the discharges were similar. The turbidity/discharge relationship during the landslide occurrence was markedly different from that before and after the occurrence. The correlation coefficients between turbidity and TS showed that the landslide significantly changed the sediment yield in this watershed. The result indicates that sediment yield estimations at the watershed level should be treated more carefully when landslides occur. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9818-4 Authors Masato Kobiyama, Departamento de Engenharia Sanitária e Ambiental, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Caixa Postal 476, Florianopolis, SC 88040-900, Brazil Aline de Almeida Mota, Departamento de Engenharia Sanitária e Ambiental, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Caixa Postal 476, Florianopolis, SC 88040-900, Brazil Fernando Grison, Departamento de Engenharia Sanitária e Ambiental, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Caixa Postal 476, Florianopolis, SC 88040-900, Brazil Joana Nery Giglio, Departamento de Engenharia Sanitária e Ambiental, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Caixa Postal 476, Florianopolis, SC 88040-900, Brazil Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    This study describes a critical assessment of the risk control decision model from a methodological perspective and identifies major shortcomings with the employment of enhanced formal evaluation and decision-making methods. This in turn could have major applications for natural disaster risk control. The methodology follows the description of interpretive structural modeling (ISM), which is an interactive learning process in which a set of different and directly related elements is structured to form a comprehensive systemic model. The next step explores the potentials of different mathematical programming approaches in order to improve decision making, i.e., for the development of an economic utility constrained-maximization model that addresses the issue of optimal budget allocation under a trade-off framework. Several aspects of risk and uncertainty are discussed within the context of an economic utility constrained-maximization model with a major focus on the importance of risk and uncertainty in research evaluation, and how the strategy determines the insurance and risk control plans. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-19 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9861-1 Authors Chun-Pin Tseng, Armaments Bureau, Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology, Taoyuan, Taiwan Cheng-Wu Chen, Institute of Maritime Information and Technology, National Kaohsiung Marine University, Kaohsiung, 80543 Taiwan Yu-Ping Tu, Department of Logistics Management, Shu-Te University, Kaohsiung, 82445 Taiwan, Republic of China Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    District-wide drought climatology over India for the southwest monsoon season (June–September) has been examined using two simple drought indices; Percent of Normal Precipitation (PNP) and Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). The season drought indices were computed using long times series (1901–2003) of southwest monsoon season rainfall data of 458 districts over the country. Identification of all India (nation-wide) drought incidences using both PNP and SPI yielded nearly similar results. However, the district-wide climatology based on PNP was biased by the aridity of the region. Whereas district-wide drought climatology based on SPI was not biased by aridity. This study shows that SPI is a better drought index than PNP for the district-wide drought monitoring over the country. SPI is also suitable for examining break and active events in the southwest monsoon rainfall over the country. The trend analysis of district-wide season (June–September) SPI series showed significant negative trends over several districts from Chattisgarh, Bihar, Kerala, Jharkhand, Assam and Meghalaya, Uttaranchal, east Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha etc., Whereas significant positive trends in the SPI series were observed over several districts from west Uttar Pradesh, west Madhya Pradesh, South & north Interior Karnataka, Konkan and Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, East Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat etc. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-17 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9867-8 Authors D. S. Pai, India Meteorological Department, Pune, India Latha Sridhar, India Meteorological Department, Pune, India Pulak Guhathakurta, India Meteorological Department, Pune, India H. R. Hatwar, India Meteorological Department, Pune, India Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    The Indus flood in 2010 was one of the greatest river disasters in recent history, which affected more than 14 million people in Pakistan. Although excessive rainfall between July and September 2010 has been cited as the major causative factor for this disaster, the human interventions in the river system over the years made this disaster a catastrophe. Geomorphic analysis suggests that the Indus River has had a very dynamic regime in the past. However, the river has now been constrained by embankments on both sides, and several barrages have been constructed along the river. As a result, the river has been aggrading rapidly during the last few decades due to its exceptionally high sediment load particularly in reaches upstream of the barrages. This in turn has caused significant increase in cross-valley gradient leading to breaches upstream of the barrages and inundation of large areas. Our flow accumulation analysis using SRTM data not only supports this interpretation but also points out that there are several reaches along the Indus River, which are still vulnerable to such breaches and flooding. Even though the Indus flood in 2010 was characterized by exceptionally high discharges, our experience in working on Himalayan rivers and similar recent events in rivers in Nepal and India suggest that such events can occur at relatively low discharges. It is therefore of utmost importance to identify such areas and plan mitigation measures as soon as possible. We emphasize the role of geomorphology in flood analysis and management and urge the river managers to take urgent steps to incorporate the geomorphic understanding of Himalayan rivers in river management plans. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9869-6 Authors Kumar Gaurav, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, UP 208016, India R. Sinha, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, UP 208016, India P. K. Panda, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, UP 208016, India Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Tropical cyclone is one of the most devastating weather phenomena all over the world. The Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) of the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) has developed a sophisticated mesoscale model known as Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting (HWRF) system for tropical cyclone studies. The state-of-the-art HWRF model (atmospheric component) has been used in simulating most of the features our present study of a very severe tropical cyclone “Mala”, which developed on April 26 over the Bay of Bengal and crossed the Arakan coast of Myanmar on April 29, 2006. The initial and lateral boundary conditions are obtained from Global Forecast System (GFS) analysis and forecast fields of the NCEP, respectively. The performance of the model is evaluated with simulation of cyclone Mala with six different initial conditions at an interval of 12 h each from 00 UTC 25 April 2006 to 12 UTC 27 April 2006. The best result in terms of track and intensity forecast as obtained from different initial conditions is further investigated for large-scale fields and structure of the cyclone. For this purpose, a number of important predicted fields’ viz. central pressure/pressure drop, winds, precipitation, etc. are verified against observations/verification analysis. Also, some of the simulated diagnostic fields such as relative vorticity, pressure vertical velocity, heat fluxes, precipitation rate, and moisture convergences are investigated for understanding of the characteristics of the cyclone in more detail. The vector displacement errors in track forecasts are calculated with the estimated best track provided by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The results indicate that the model is able to capture most of the features of cyclone Mala with reasonable accuracy. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-25 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9863-z Authors Sujata Pattanayak, Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016 India U. C. Mohanty, Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016 India S. G. Gopalakrishnan, Hurricane Research Division, NOAA, Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, 4301 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149, USA Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Seasonal water scarcity in southern China has been an issue of concern for many years. The increased frequency of low precipitation in the growing season of rice created a flurry of discussions in the academic and policy arenas. These events severely disrupted the supply of irrigation water for agriculture in paddy field areas and posed a substantial threat to farmers’ livelihoods. Within a broader context of accessing farmers’ resilience to agricultural drought, this paper focuses on the response mechanisms and adaptive strategies adopted by farming households in three types of areas (Plain, Hill, Mountain) in Dingcheng, Hunan Province. With the increasing drought frequency and the pressure from the demand for livelihood improvement, farmers’ response mechanisms have evolved, expanding from short-term adjustments to long-term adaptations, and switching focus from securing reliable water sources to improving irrigation efficiency and diversifying both on- and off- farm productions. The three types of geographic units have different resilience profiles and have developed diverse patterns of adaptive processes that update the conceptual model of Disaster Resilience of “Loss-Response” of Location. It presents a temporal dimension to the study of resilience, which is largely missing from the current literature and provides insights into how to enhance farmers’ response capacities in the face of agricultural drought in southern China. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9873-x Authors Yehong Sun, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101 China Hongjian Zhou, National Disaster Reduction Center of China (NDRCC), No. 6, Guangbaidonglu, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100022 China Jing’ai Wang, College of Geography and Remote Sensing Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875 China Yi Yuan, National Disaster Reduction Center of China (NDRCC), No. 6, Guangbaidonglu, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100022 China Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Using newly digitised sea-level data for the ports of Southampton (1935–2005) and Portsmouth (1961–2005) on the south coast of the UK, this study investigates the relationship between the 100 highest sea-level events recorded at the two cities and the incidence of coastal floods in the adjoining Solent region. The main sources of flood data are the daily newspapers The Southern Daily Echo , based in Southampton and The News , based in Portsmouth, supported by a range of local publications and records. The study indicates a strong relationship between the highest measured sea levels and the incidence of coastal floods and highlights the most vulnerable areas to coastal flooding which include parts of Portsmouth, Southampton, Hayling Island, Fareham and Cowes. The most severe flood in the dataset resulted from the storm surge events of 13–17 December 1989 when eight consecutive extreme high waters occurred. The data suggest that while extreme sea-level events are becoming more common, the occurrence of flood events is not increasing. This is attributed to improved flood remediation measures combined with a reduction of storm intensity since the 1980s. However, several recent events of significance were still recorded, particularly 3 November 2005 when Eaststoke on Hayling Island (near Portsmouth) was flooded due to high sea levels combined with energetic swell waves. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-24 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9868-7 Authors Amy C. Ruocco, School of Civil Engineering and the Environment, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Southampton, Highfield Campus, Southampton, SO17 1BJ UK Robert J. Nicholls, School of Civil Engineering and the Environment, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Southampton, Highfield Campus, Southampton, SO17 1BJ UK Ivan D. Haigh, The School of Environment Systems Engineering and UWA Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia, M470, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia Matthew P. Wadey, School of Civil Engineering and the Environment, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Southampton, Highfield Campus, Southampton, SO17 1BJ UK Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description: Field survey report on the 11th March 2011 tsunami in Pacific coast of Mexico Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-6 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9871-z Authors M. P. Jonathan, Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigaciones y Estudios sobre Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo (CIIEMAD), Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), Calle 30 de Junio de 1520, Barrio la Laguna Ticomán, Del. Gustavo A. Madero, 07340 Mexico, DF, Mexico P. D. Roy, Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, 04510 Mexico, DF, Mexico J. L. Sánchez-Zavala, Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, 04510 Mexico, DF, Mexico S. Srinivasalu, Department of Geology, Anna University, Chennai, 600025 India M. C. Macías-Romo, Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, 04510 Mexico, DF, Mexico C. Lakshumanan, Centre for Remote Sensing, Bharathidasan University, Khajamalai Campus, Thiruchirappalli, 620023 India Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description: :   In North America and Europe, most fatalities due to snow avalanches occur in the backcountry during recreational pursuits. Of these, more than 90% of the fatal avalanches are triggered by the victims themselves. This pattern suggests that the primary cause of avalanche fatalities for human-triggered avalanches is a failure in human perception. For the latter, people thought that the state of stability or instability of the snow cover was different than it actually was. In this paper, the strength and weight of evidence used to make decisions in backcountry travel are discussed from: (a) the perspective of the favored hypothesis to proceed for good recreational enjoyment based on stability evaluation and (b) the null hypothesis based on an assessment of instability. Based on the facts about snow slab avalanche release, it is argued that instability analysis is the best framework for avalanche forecasting, whereas human action is most closely related to the favored hypothesis (stability evaluation). Using scaling laws derived from: (a) fracture mechanics about the size of imperfections causing avalanches and (b) avalanche dimensions, it is suggested that a snow slab could show stability over more than 99% of the total area. From the concepts of Bayesian probability, it is shown that overconfidence about stability can arise when the weight of the likelihood is high and the weight of prior is low. Similarly, underconfidence (excessive conservatism) often results when the weight of the prior is high with little regard for the likelihood, which may be low. Overconfidence about stability is considered to be a prime source of accidents. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9856-y Authors D. M. McClung, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2, Canada Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    A susceptibility map for an area, which is representative in terms of both geologic setting and slope instability phenomena of large sectors of the Sicilian Apennines, was produced using slope units and a multiparametric univariate model. The study area, extending for approximately 90 km 2 , was partitioned into 774 slope units, whose expected landslide occurrence was estimated by averaging seven susceptibility values, determined for the selected controlling factors: lithology, mean slope gradient, stream power index at the foot, mean topographic wetness index and profile curvature, slope unit length, and altitude range. Each of the recognized 490 landslides was represented by its centroid point. On the basis of conditional analysis, the susceptibility function here adopted is the density of landslides, computed for each class. Univariate susceptibility models were prepared for each of the controlling factors, and their predictive performance was estimated by prediction rate curves and effectiveness ratio applied to the susceptibility classes. This procedure allowed us to discriminate between effective and non-effective factors, so that only the former was subsequently combined in a multiparametric model, which was used to produce the final susceptibility map. The validation of this map latter enabled us to verify the reliability and predictive performance of the model. Slope unit altitude range and length, lithology and, subordinately, stream power index at the foot of the slope unit demonstrated to be the main controlling factors of landslides, while mean slope gradient, profile curvature, and topographic wetness index gave unsatisfactory results. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9846-0 Authors E. Rotigliano, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy C. Cappadonia, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy C. Conoscenti, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy D. Costanzo, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy V. Agnesi, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    The purpose of this study is to evaluate and compare the results of applying the statistical index and the logistic regression methods for estimating landslide susceptibility in the Hoa Binh province of Vietnam. In order to do this, first, a landslide inventory map was constructed mainly based on investigated landslide locations from three projects conducted over the last 10 years. In addition, some recent landslide locations were identified from SPOT satellite images, fieldwork, and literature. Secondly, ten influencing factors for landslide occurrence were utilized. The slope gradient map, the slope curvature map, and the slope aspect map were derived from a digital elevation model (DEM) with resolution 20 × 20 m. The DEM was generated from topographic maps at a scale of 1:25,000. The lithology map and the distance to faults map were extracted from Geological and Mineral Resources maps. The soil type and the land use maps were extracted from National Pedology maps and National Land Use Status maps, respectively. Distance to rivers and distance to roads were computed based on river and road networks from topographic maps. In addition, a rainfall map was included in the models. Actual landslide locations were used to verify and to compare the results of landslide susceptibility maps. The accuracy of the results was evaluated by ROC analysis. The area under the curve (AUC) for the statistical index model was 0.946 and for the logistic regression model, 0.950, indicating an almost equal predicting capacity. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-32 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9844-2 Authors Dieu Tien Bui, Department of Mathematical Sciences and Technology, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003IMT, 1432 Ås, Norway Owe Lofman, Department of Mathematical Sciences and Technology, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003IMT, 1432 Ås, Norway Inge Revhaug, Department of Mathematical Sciences and Technology, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003IMT, 1432 Ås, Norway Oystein Dick, Department of Mathematical Sciences and Technology, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, P.O. Box 5003IMT, 1432 Ås, Norway Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Changing characteristics of hazardous weather-related events have been arousing considerable public interest in recent years. Guangdong is an economically developed province in China and is prone to natural hazards. Using monthly precipitation data covering a period of 1956–2008 from 127 rain gauge stations, the probabilistic behaviors of SPI-based droughts were investigated with copulas functions. Results indicated a higher risk of droughts along the coastal regions and the western Guangdong, particularly the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region. Joint probabilities of droughts with higher intensity and longer duration were found to have relatively even geographical distribution across Guangdong. The northern parts of Guangdong are higher in altitude and have a lower risk of droughts. Identification of regions characterized by droughts of different severity and durations across Guangdong is important for scientific management of water resource and agricultural activities and also the development of social resilience under the influence of climate changes. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9850-4 Authors Chun-Ling Liu, Pearl River Hydraulic Research Institute, Guangzhou, 510611 China Qiang Zhang, Department of Water Resources and Environment, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275 China Vijay P. Singh, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX 77843-2117, USA Ying Cui, Department of Water Resources and Environment, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275 China Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    The landslide studies can be categorized as pre- and postdisaster studies. The predisaster studies include spatial prediction of potential landslide zones known as landslide susceptibility zonation (LSZ) mapping to identify the areas/locales susceptible to landslide hazard. The LSZ maps provide an assessment of the safety of existing habitations and infrastructural/functional elements and help plan further developmental activities in the hilly regions. Landslides are one of the natural geohazards that affect at least 15% of land area of India. Different types of landslides occur frequently in geodynamical active domains of the Himalayas. In India, various techniques have been developed and adopted for LSZ mapping of different regions. However, the technique for LSZ mapping is not yet standardized. The present research is an attempt in this direction only. In our earlier work (Kanungo et al. 2006 ), a detailed study on conventional, artificial neural network (ANN)- black box-, fuzzy set-based and combined neural and fuzzy weighting techniques for LSZ mapping in Darjeeling Himalayas has been documented. In this paper, other techniques such as combined neural and certainty factor concept along with combined neural and likelihood ratio techniques have been assessed in comparison with combined neural and fuzzy technique for the preparation of LSZ maps of the same study area in parts of Darjeeling Himalayas. It is observed from the present study that the LSZ map produced using combined neural and fuzzy approach appears to be the most accurate one as in this case only 2.3% of the total area is found to be categorized as very high susceptibility zone and contains 30.1% of the existing landslide area. This approach can serve as one of the key objective approaches for spatial prediction of landslide hazards in hilly terrain. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-22 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9847-z Authors D. P. Kanungo, Geotechnical Engineering Division, CSIR-Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee, India S. Sarkar, Geotechnical Engineering Division, CSIR-Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee, India Shaifaly Sharma, Geotechnical Engineering Division, CSIR-Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee, India Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Movement of seasonal eddies in the Bay of Bengal (BOB) and its relation with cyclonic heat potential (CHP) and cyclogenesis points have been investigated in this study using 6 years (2002–2007) of global ocean monthly analysis datasets based on the Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA) package (SODA v2.0.4) of Carton et al. ( 2005 ) and Indian Meteorological Department cyclogenesis points. The region dominated by anticyclonic eddies with CHP greater than 70 × 10 7  J/m 2 as well as good correlations (〉0.9) with sea surface height (SSH) and 26°C isothermal depth ( D 26 ) can be a potential region of cyclogenesis. The region dominated by cyclonic eddies with CHP greater than 50 × 10 7  J/m 2 and good correlation (〉0.9) with both SSH and D 26 can serve as a potential region of high-level depression. Potential cyclogenesis regions are the southern BOB (5°N–12°N) for the post-monsoon season and the head of BOB (north of 15°N) during southwest monsoon. Seven potential regions are identified for the eddy formation for different seasons, which are consistent with the cyclogenesis points. The CHP distributions alone are able to explain the cyclone tracks for the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons but not for the monsoon season. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-19 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9858-9 Authors Bishnu Kumar, Centre for Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL), Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India Arun Chakraborty, Centre for Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere and Land Sciences (CORAL), Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    To overcome the disadvantages of traditional flow analysis methods for liquefied soils that exhibit fluidization and large deformation characteristics, Smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) is adopted in this study to analyze the flow processes of liquefied soils. Bingham model with the use of the Mohr–Coulomb yield criterion, the concepts of equivalent Newtonian viscosity, and the Verlet neighbor list method are introduced into the framework of SPH to build an algorithm for the analysis of flowing liquefied soils. This modeling involves a simulation of physical model test of flowing liquefied soils that can be compared with numerical results. In addition, a shaking table test is selected from the literature for SPH analysis to verify the validation of the SPH method and extend its applications. The SPH simulation can reproduce the flow processes of liquefied soils and constrain estimates of the horizontal displacement, vertical displacement, and velocity of soils after liquefaction. According to the dynamic behaviors of the materials involved, designs can be implemented to improve the seismic safety of structures. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9851-3 Authors Yu Huang, Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of the Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092 China Weijie Zhang, Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092 China Wuwei Mao, Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092 China Chen Jin, Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092 China Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    The 27 November 1945 earthquake in the Makran Subduction Zone triggered a destructive tsunami that has left important problems unresolved. According to the available reports, high waves persisted along the Makran coast and at Karachi for several hours after the arrival of the first wave. Long-duration sea-level oscillations were also reported from Port Victoria, Seychelles. On the other hand, only one high wave was reported from Mumbai. Tide-gauge records of the tsunami from Karachi and Mumbai confirm these reports. While the data from Mumbai shows a single high wave, Karachi data shows that high waves persisted for more than 7 h, with maximum wave height occurring 2.8 h after the arrival of the first wave. In this paper, we analyze the cause of these persistent high waves using a numerical model. The simulation reproduces the observed features reasonably well, particularly the persistent high waves at Karachi and the single high wave at Mumbai. It further reveals that the persistent high waves along the Makran coast and at Karachi were the result of trapping of the tsunami-wave energy on the continental shelf off the Makran coast and that these coastally-trapped edge waves were trapped in the along-shore direction within a ∼300-km stretch of the continental shelf. Sensitivity experiments establish that this along-shore trapping of the tsunami energy is due to variations in the shelf width. In addition, the model simulation indicates that the reported long duration of sea-level oscillations at Port Victoria were mainly due to trapping of the tsunami energy over the large shallow region surrounding the Seychelles archipelago. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-10 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9854-0 Authors S. Neetu, National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, Goa, 403004 India I. Suresh, National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, Goa, 403004 India R. Shankar, The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, 600113 India B. Nagarajan, Indian Institute of Surveying and Mapping, Survey of India, Hyderabad, 500039 India R. Sharma, Geodetic and Research Branch, Survey of India, Dehra Dun, 248001 India S. S. C. Shenoi, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, Hyderabad, 500055 India A. S. Unnikrishnan, National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, Goa, 403004 India D. Sundar, National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula, Goa, 403004 India Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    A very severe cyclonic storm “Aila” hit West Bengal on 26 May 2009. The storm intensified when it encountered with a warm core (SST = 31°C) anti-cyclonic eddy (ACE4) in the north Bay of Bengal. The storm intensity increased by 43% due to this eddy, which is comparable with that (34%) obtained from a best fit line (derived from several numerical experiments over north-west Pacific Ocean). The shallow mixed layer of the large-scale ocean and deep mixed layer inside the eddy appear to be crucial parameters besides translation speed of the storm (Uh), ambient relative humidity and thermal stratification below mixed layer, in the storm intensification. From the eddy size and Uh, the eddy feedback factor is found to be about 0.4 (i.e. 40%), which is close to the above. Since there exists an inverse relationship between Uh and UOHC (upper ocean heat content), slow (fast) moving storms require high (low) UOHC. The warm ACE4 with a high UOHC of 149 kj/cm 2 (300% higher than the climatological value) and deep warm layer (D26 = 126 m) opposes the cooling induced by the storm and helps for the intensification of the storm through the supply of large enthalpy (latent + sensible) flux. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9837-1 Authors Y. Sadhuram, National Institute of Oceanography, Regional Centre (CSIR), 176, Lawsons Bay colony, Visakhapatnam, 530017 India K. Maneesha, National Institute of Oceanography, Regional Centre (CSIR), 176, Lawsons Bay colony, Visakhapatnam, 530017 India T. V. Ramana Murty, National Institute of Oceanography, Regional Centre (CSIR), 176, Lawsons Bay colony, Visakhapatnam, 530017 India Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Flooding is one of the major natural hazards in Taiwan, and most of the low-lying areas in Taiwan are flood-prone areas. In order to minimize loss of life and economic losses, a detailed and comprehensive decision-making tool is necessary for both flood control planning and emergency service operations. The objectives of this research were (i) to develop a hierarchical structure through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to provide preferred options for flood risk analysis, (ii) to map the relative flood risk using the geographic information system (GIS), and (iii) to integrate these two methodologies and apply them to one urban and one semi-rural area in central Taiwan. Fushin Township and the floodplain of Fazih River (1 km on either side of the channel) in Taichung City were selected for this study. In this paper, the flood risk is defined as the relative flood risk due to broken dikes or the failure of stormwater drainage systems. Seven factors were considered in relation to the failure of stormwater drainage, and five to that of broken dikes. Following well-defined procedures, flood maps were drawn based on the data collected from expert responses to a questionnaire, the field survey, satellite images, and documents from flood management agencies. The relative values of flood risk are presented using a 200-m grid for the two study areas. It is concluded that integration of AHP and GIS in flood risk assessment can provide useful detailed information for flood risk management, and the method can be easily applied to most areas in Taiwan where required data sets are readily available. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9831-7 Authors Yi-Ru Chen, School of Engineering, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, Brisbane, QLD 4111, Australia Chao-Hsien Yeh, Department of Water Resources Engineering and Conservation, Feng Chia University, No. 100 Wenhwa Road, Seatwen, Taichung, 40724 Taiwan Bofu Yu, School of Engineering, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Nathan, Brisbane, QLD 4111, Australia Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    In the framework of a regional landslide susceptibility study in southern Sicily, a test has been carried out in the Tumarrano river basin (about 80 km 2 ) aimed at characterizing its landslide susceptibility conditions by exporting a “source model”, defined and trained inside a limited (about 20 km 2 ) representative sector (the “source area”). Also, the possibility of exploiting Google Earth ™ software and photo-images databank to produce the landslide archives has been checked. The susceptibility model was defined, according to a multivariate geostatistic approach based on the conditional analysis, using unique condition units (UCUs), which were obtained by combining four selected controlling factors: outcropping lithology, steepness, plan curvature and topographic wetness index. The prediction skill of the exported model, trained with 206 landslides, is compared with the one estimated for the whole studied area, by using a complete landslide archive (703 landslides), to see to what extent the largest time/money costs needed are accounted for. The investigated area stretches in the fore-deep sector of southern Sicily, where clayey rocks, mainly referring to the Numidian Flysch and the Terravecchia Formations, largely crop out. The results of the study confirm both the exploitability of Google Earth ™ to produce landslide archive and possibility to adopt in assessing the landslide susceptibility for large basin, a strategy based on the exportation of models trained in limited representative sectors. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-12 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9870-0 Authors D. Costanzo, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy C. Cappadonia, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy C. Conoscenti, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy E. Rotigliano, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Palermo, Italy Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    The convection and planetary boundary layer (PBL) processes play significant role in the genesis and intensification of tropical cyclones (TCs). Several convection and PBL parameterization schemes incorporate these processes in the numerical weather prediction models. Therefore, a systematic intercomparison of performance of parameterization schemes is essential to customize a model. In this context, six combinations of physical parameterization schemes (2 PBL Schemes, YSU and MYJ, and 3 convection schemes, KF, BM, and GD) of WRF-ARW model are employed to obtain the optimum combination for the prediction of TCs over North Indian Ocean. Five cyclones are studied for sensitivity experiments and the out-coming combination is tested on real-time prediction of TCs during 2008. The tracks are also compared with those provided by the operational centers like NCEP, ECMWF, UKMO, NCMRWF, and IMD. It is found that the combination of YSU PBL scheme with KF convection scheme (YKF) provides a better prediction of intensity, track, and rainfall consistently. The average RMSE of intensity (13 hPa in CSLP and 11 m s −1 in 10-m wind), mean track, and landfall errors is found to be least with YKF combination. The equitable threat score (ETS) of YKF combination is more than 0.2 for the prediction of 24-h accumulated rainfall up to 125 mm. The vertical structural characteristics of cyclone inner core also recommend the YKF combination for Indian seas cyclones. In the real-time prediction of 2008 TCs, the 72-, 48-, and 24-h mean track errors are 172, 129, and 155 km and the mean landfall errors are 125, 73, and 66 km, respectively. Compared with the track of leading operational agencies, the WRF model is competing in 24 h (116 km error) and 72 h (166 km) but superior in 48-h (119 km) track forecast. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-23 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9862-0 Authors Krishna K. Osuri, Indian Institute of Technology, Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016 India U. C. Mohanty, Indian Institute of Technology, Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016 India A. Routray, National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, A-50, Institutional Area, Sector-62, Noida, UP, India Makarand A. Kulkarni, Indian Institute of Technology, Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016 India M. Mohapatra, India Meteorological Department, Lodi Road, New Delhi, India Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Anytime that tornadoes interface with people, the results are often grim. The varied characteristics of tornado windfields and the diverse techniques of home construction complicate the expected outcomes of such interactions. Since it is now known that tornadoes do not produce unfathomable winds, engineers have developed techniques for increasing a home’s tornado resistance; thus, increasing the odds of survival of the inhabitants. Even considering these advances, tornadoes still wreak havoc and cause much causality every year. The story of tornado survival is partly chance, partly knowledge, and partly science. This essay utilizes analogies between a popular motion picture and the state of the art of tornado-resistant construction to illustrate the good, the bad, and the ugly facts of tornado survival. First examined are the positive aspects of tornado probability. The odds of experiencing a tornado are so low that massive expenditures are not necessarily cost effective. Next, various techniques of tornado-resistant construction practices are included for new and existing structures. Introduction of equations for predicting debris penetration are compared with various building techniques to describe the viability of tornado protection. The negative aspect of tornado/structure interfaces describes the fact that despite contemporary construction and prevention exercise, the unpredictability of the tornado windfield causes tremendous damage and loss of life. The final section examines the interface between tornadoes and mobile homes. This proves very ugly in every aspect of the word. Statistics and equations confirm the inherent dangers of such an interaction. Also, described is a novel approach to the design of a portable tornado shelter. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-21 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9875-8 Authors Bobby G. McPeak, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA Atila Ertas, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Risk assessment of natural hazards is often based on the actual or forecast weather situation. For estimating such climate-related risks, it is important to obtain weather data as frequently as possible. One commonly used climate interpolation routine is DAYMET, which in its current form is not able to update its database for periods of less than a year. In this paper, we report the construction of a new climate database with a standard interface and implement a framework for providing daily updated weather data for online daily weather interpolations across regions. We re-implement the interpolation routines from DAYMET to be compliant with the data handling in the new framework. We determine the optimal number of stations used in two possible interpolation routines, assess the error bounds using an independent validation dataset and compare the results with a previous validation study based on the original DAYMET implementation. Mean absolute errors are 1°C for maximum and minimum temperature, 28 mm for precipitation, 3.2 MJ/m² for solar radiation and 1 hPa for vapour pressure deficit, which is in the range of the original DAYMET routine. Finally, we provide an example application of the methodology and derive a fire danger index for a 1 km grid over Austria. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9880-y Authors Richard Petritsch, Institute of Silviculture, BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Peter Jordan Str. 82, 1190 Vienna, Austria Hubert Hasenauer, Institute of Silviculture, BOKU University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Peter Jordan Str. 82, 1190 Vienna, Austria Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Tropical cyclones are the most common natural disasters in coastal regions and are the most costly in terms of economic losses. Economic loss assessment is the basis for disaster prevention and alleviation and for insurance indemnification. We use data from 1970 to 2008 for Zhejiang Province, China, in this study evaluating economic losses. We convert direct economic losses from tropical cyclone disasters in Zhejiang Province into indices of direct economic losses. To establish our assessment model, we process disaster-inducing assessment factors, disaster-formative environments and disaster-affected bodies using the principal component analysis method, and we abstract the principal component as the input of a BP neural network model. We found in the actual assessments of five tropical cyclones affecting Zhejiang Province in 2007 and 2008 that the post-disaster loss assessment values of tropical cyclones were higher than the actual losses, but that for more severe storms, the gap was smaller. This reflects the beneficial effect of efforts toward disaster prevention and alleviation for severe tropical cyclones. Pre-assessments based on relatively accurate forecast values of wind and precipitation at the start of a tropical cyclone have been in accordance with the post-disaster assessment values, while the pre-assessment results using less accurate forecast values have been unsatisfactory. Therefore, this model can be applied in the actual assessment of direct economic loss from tropical cyclone damage, but increasingly accurate forecasting of wind and precipitation remains crucial to improving the accuracy of pre-assessments. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9881-x Authors Wei-ping Lou, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China Hai-yan Chen, Zhejiang Weather Station, Hangzhou, China Xin-fa Qiu, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China Qi-yi Tang, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China Feng Zheng, Wenzhou Weather Bureau, Wenzhou, China Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    High winds are one of the nation’s leading damage-producing storm conditions. They do not include winds from tornadoes, winter storms, nor hurricanes, but are strong winds generated by deep low pressure centers, by thunderstorms, or by air flow over mountain ranges. The annual average property and crop losses in the United States from windstorms are $379 million and windstorms during 1959–1997 caused an average of 11 deaths each year. Windstorms range in size from a few hundred to hundreds of thousands square kilometers, being largest in the western United States where 40% of all storms exceed 135,000 km 2 . In the eastern United States, windstorms occur at a given location, on average, 1.4 times a year, whereas in the western US point averages are 1.9. Midwestern states average between 15 and 20 wind storms annually; states in the east average between 10 and 25 storms per year; and West Coast states average 27–30 storms annually. Storms causing insured property losses 〉$1 million, labeled catastrophes, during 1952–2006 totaled 176, an annual average of 3.2. Catastrophic windstorm losses were highest in the West and Northwest climate regions, the only form of severe weather in the United States with maximum losses on the West Coast. Most western storms occurred in the winter, a result of Pacific lows, and California has had 31 windstorm catastrophes, more than any other state. The national temporal distribution of catastrophic windstorms during 1952–2006 has a flat trend, but their losses display a distinct upward trend with time, peaking during 1996–2006. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9828-2 Authors Stanley A. Changnon, Illinois State Water Survey, University of Illinois, 801 E. Buckthorn, Mahomet, IL 61853, USA Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    This paper discusses the characteristics of high-impact weather events based on available data during 1960–2009, including the frequency and extreme value of rainstorm, typhoon, thunderstorm, strong wind, tornado, fog, haze and hot days in Shanghai, China. The frequency and spatial distribution of meteorological disasters and their impacts on both human and property during 1984–2009 are also discussed. Examination of the frequency indicates a decreasing trend in the occurrence of typhoon, thunderstorm, strong wind, tornado and fog, and an increasing trend in the occurrence of rainstorm, haze and hot days. The number of casualties caused by meteorological disasters appears to show a slight decreasing trend while the value of direct economic loss is increasing slightly during 1984–2009, and the number of collapsed or damaged buildings and the area of affected crops have no significant trend in Shanghai. These results can be attributed to the great efforts for prevention and mitigation of meteorological disasters made by Shanghai government in recent 60 years. With global climate change, urbanization and rapid economic development, Shanghai has become more vulnerable to high-impact weather and meteorological disaster, especially precipitation extreme, summer high temperature, haze and typhoon, so more strategies of mitigation and/or adaptation of natural disasters are quite useful and necessary for local government and the public in the future. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-19 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9877-6 Authors Jun Shi, Shanghai Climate Center, Shanghai Meteorological Bureau, Shanghai, 200030 China Linli Cui, Shanghai Center for Satellite Remote Sensing and Application, Shanghai Meteorological Bureau, Shanghai, 201100 China Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Like in many other parts of the world, the glaciers in northern Tien Shan are receding, and the permafrost is thawing. Concomitantly, glacial lakes are developing. Historically, outbursts of these glacial lakes have resulted in severe hazards for infrastructures and livelihood. Multi-temporal space imageries are an ideal means to study and monitor glaciers and glacial lakes over large areas. Geomorphometric analysis and modelling allows to estimate the potential danger for glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). This paper presents a comprehensive approach by coupling of remote sensing, geomorphometric analyses aided with GIS modelling for the identification of potentially dangerous glacial lakes. We suggest a classification scheme based on an additive ratio scale in order to prioritise sites for detailed investigations. The identification and monitoring of glacial lakes was carried out semi-automatically using band ratioing and the normalised difference water index (NDWI) based on multi-temporal space imagery from the years 1971 to 2008 using Corona, ASTER and Landsat data. The results were manually edited when required. The probability of the growth of a glacial lake was estimated by analysing glacier changes, glacier motion and slope analysis. A permafrost model was developed based on geomorphometric parameters, solar radiation and regionalised temperature conditions which permitted to assess the influence of potential permafrost thawing. Finally, a GIS-based model was applied to simulate the possibly affected area of lake outbursts. The findings of this study indicate an increasing number and area of glacial lakes in the northern Tien Shan region. We identified several lakes with a medium to high potential for an outburst after a classification according to their outburst probability and their downstream impact. These lakes should be investigated more in detail. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-24 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9860-2 Authors Tobias Bolch, Geographisches Institut, Universität Zürich, 8059 Zürich, Switzerland Juliane Peters, Institut für Kartographie, Technische Universität Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany Alexandr Yegorov, Institute of Geography of Ministry of Education and Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty, Kazakhstan Biswajeet Pradhan, Institut für Kartographie, Technische Universität Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany Manfred Buchroithner, Institut für Kartographie, Technische Universität Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany Victor Blagoveshchensky, Institute of Geography of Ministry of Education and Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Almaty, Kazakhstan Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Landslides cause heavy damage to property and infrastructure, in addition to being responsible for the loss of human lives in many parts of the Turkey. The paper presents GIS-based spatial data analysis for landslide susceptibility mapping in the regions of the Sultan Mountains, West of Akşehir, and central part of Turkey. Landslides occur frequently in the area and seriously affect local living conditions. Therefore, spatial analysis of landslide susceptibility in the Sultan Mountains is important. The relationships between landslide distributions with the 19 landslide affecting parameters were analysed using a Bayesian model. In the study area, 90 landslides were observed. The landslides were randomly subdivided into 80 training landslides and 10 test landslides. A landslide susceptibility map was produced by using the training landslides. The test landslides were used in the accuracy control of the produced landslide susceptibility map. Approximately 9% of the study area was classified as high susceptibility zone. Medium, low and very low susceptibility zones covered 8, 23 and 60% of the study area, respectively. Most of the locations of the observed landslides actually fall into moderate (17.78%) and high (77.78. %) susceptibility zones of the produced landslide susceptibility map. This validates the applicability of proposed methods, approaches and the classification scheme. The high susceptibility zone is along both sides of the Akşehir Fault and at the north-eastern slope of the Sultan Mountains. It was determined that the surface area of the Harlak and Deresenek formations, which have attained lithological characteristics of clayey limestone with a broken and separated base, and where area landslides occur, possesses an elevation of 1,100–1,600 m, a slope gradient of 25°–35° and a slope aspect of 22.5°–157.5° facing slopes. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-35 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9853-1 Authors Adnan Ozdemir, Department of Geological Engineering, Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description: Editorial for the special issue: vulnerability to natural hazards—the challenge of integration Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9825-5 Authors Sven Fuchs, Institute of Mountain Risk Engineering, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Peter-Jordan-Str. 82, 1190 Wien, Austria Christian Kuhlicke, Department of Urban and Environmental Sociology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Permoserstraße 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany Volker Meyer, Department of Economics, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ, Permoserstraße 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    A comparative analysis of six vulnerability models aims to identify differences and similarities between several approaches towards understanding vulnerability. The analysis yields a set of characteristics for explaining the condition of vulnerability (multiple contexts, multiple dimensions, temporal variability, multiple scales and scale-interdependency). In addition, ‘adaptation’ and ‘adaptive capacity’ are identified as key elements of vulnerability. The results of the analysis are put into a wider context not only of vulnerability but also of resilience and risk research. It is demonstrated that ‘adaptation’ and ‘adaptive capacity’ serve as hinges not only for conceptualising vulnerability but between ‘vulnerability’ and ‘resilience’ alike. Based on the results of the comparative analysis, a model of vulnerability focussing on the household and community scale is developed, which displays the key findings of this work. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-23 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9823-7 Authors Gabi Hufschmidt, Department of Geography, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    In this paper, impact of Indian Doppler Weather Radar (DWR) data, i.e., reflectivity ( Z ), radial velocity (Vr) data individually and in combination has been examined for simulation of mesoscale features of a land-falling cyclone with Advance Regional Prediction System (ARPS) Model at 9-km horizontal resolution. The radial velocity and reflectivity observations from DWR station, Chennai (lat. 13.0°N and long. 80.0°E), are assimilated using the ARPS Data Assimilation System (ADAS) and cloud analysis scheme of the model. The case selected for this study is the Bay of Bengal tropical cyclone NISHA of 27–28 November 2008. The study shows that the ARPS model with the assimilation of radial wind and reflectivity observations of DWR, Chennai, could simulate mesoscale characteristics, such as number of cells, spiral rain band structure, location of the center and strengthening of the lower tropospheric winds associated with the land-falling cyclone NISHA. The evolution of 850 hPa wind field super-imposed vorticity reveals that the forecast is improved in terms of the magnitude and direction of lower tropospheric wind, time, and location of cyclone in the experiment when both radial wind and reflectivity observations are used. With the assimilation of both radial wind and reflectivity observations, model could reproduce the rainfall pattern in a more realistic way. The results of this study are found to be very promising toward improving the short-range mesoscale forecasts. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-17 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9835-3 Authors Kuldeep Srivastava, India Meteorological Department, Lodi Road, New Delhi, 110003 India Rashmi Bhardwaj, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Kashmere Gate, Delhi, 110403 India S. K. Roy Bhowmik, India Meteorological Department, Lodi Road, New Delhi, 110003 India Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    This paper explores the advantages of applying the concept of social-ecological resilience (SER) and the related thinking in transdisciplinary research. The theoretical reflections are exemplified by transdisciplinary research experiences using the concept of SER as a bridging concept in the field of climate-change adaptation instead of developing a new and very context-specific conceptual bridge. The findings are based on ontological reflections concerning the complex and hybrid phenomenon of climate change and the need for transdisciplinary research as well as on reflections on the performed interdisciplinary research and the exploratory transdisciplinary research approach with practitioners from the German administration. The experiences so far have shown that it was more focused on the general ideas of social-ecological resilience thinking instead of using the concept of SER as an analytical tool. We conclude that the use of a common conceptual framework in general and of social-ecological resilience thinking in particular offers tangible advantages in transdisciplinary research dealing with climate change and adaptation to the impacts of climate change. In our case, social-ecological resilience thinking helped—after translation into practical terms—to open the field for further consideration from the very beginning as well as to open the space for common creative work; to define the problem; and to choose the relevant variables to look at. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9821-9 Authors Sonja Deppisch, HafenCity University Hamburg, Winterhuder Weg 31, 22085 Hamburg, Germany Sanin Hasibovic, HafenCity University Hamburg, Winterhuder Weg 31, 22085 Hamburg, Germany Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    A 97-day-long record on waves and currents was obtained using wave rider buoy and current meter moored at 2.5 km off Gopalpur from 19 May to 23 August 2008 representing southwest monsoon months. A Valeport tide gauge was used to record water level at Gopalpur port. Simultaneously, beach profiles at 4 transects were monitored using real-time kinematic (RTK) global positioning system (GPS). A total of 636,167 waves were analyzed for the period; a range of 3,200–9,700 waves approach the coast in an individual day. During the study, unusual characteristics of wave were observed on July 29, 2008, with a magnitude of significant wave height, H s  = 2.85 m, maximum wave height, H max  = 5.22 m, and peak wave period, T p  = 10.2 s, and on August 11, 2008, with H s  = 2.28 m, H max  = 5.37 m, and T p  = 11.1 s. Significant beach loss was noticed during these periods, and severe erosion was recorded on August 1, 2008. Beach profile data indicates that 18–58 cu. m/m sediment was lost during the study period. The paper provides an overview of the statistical analysis of wave heights, periods, direction, and spectral energy density and explains the cause of coastal erosion and loss of sediment. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-15 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9826-4 Authors P. Mishra, ICMAM Project Directorate, NIOT Campus, Pallikaranai, Chennai, 600100 India S. K. Patra, National Institute of Ocean Technology, NIOT Campus, Pallikaranai, Chennai, 600100 India M. V. Ramana Murthy, National Institute of Ocean Technology, NIOT Campus, Pallikaranai, Chennai, 600100 India P. K. Mohanty, Department of Marine Sciences, Berhampur University, Berhampur, Orissa, 760007 India U. S. Panda, ICMAM Project Directorate, NIOT Campus, Pallikaranai, Chennai, 600100 India Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    In this paper, an integrated urban earthquake vulnerability assessment framework, which considers vulnerability of urban environment in a holistic manner and performs the vulnerability assessment for the neighborhood scale, is proposed. The main motivation behind this approach is the inability to implement existing vulnerability assessment methodologies for countries like Turkey, where the required data are usually missing or inadequate for the decision-makers in prioritization their limited resources for risk reduction in the administrative units from which they are responsible for. The methodology integrates socio-economical, structural, coastal, ground condition, vulnerabilities (fragilities), as well as accessibility to critical services. The proposed methodology is implemented for Eskisehir, which is one of the metropolitans of Turkey. In the implementation of the proposed framework, geographic information system (GIS) is used. While the overall vulnerabilities obtained for neighborhoods are mapped in GIS, the overall vulnerabilities obtained for buildings are visualized in 3D city model. The main reason behind using different mapping and visualization tools for vulnerabilities is to provide better ways for communicating with decision-makers. The implementation of the proposed vulnerability assessment methodology indicates that an urban area may have different vulnerability patterns in terms of structural, socio-economical, and accessibility to critical services. When such patterns are investigated, effective vulnerability reduction policies can be designed by the decision-makers. The proposed methodology well serves for this purpose. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-31 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9808-6 Authors H. S. B. Duzgun, Geodetic and Geographical Information Technologies and Earthquake Studies Department, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey M. S. Yucemen, Civil Engineering and Earthquake Studies Departments, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey H. S. Kalaycioglu, Department of Sociology, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey K. Celik, Department of Sociology, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Samsun, Turkey S. Kemec, Geodetic and Geographical Information Technologies and Earthquake Studies Department, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey K. Ertugay, Geodetic and Geographical Information Technologies and Earthquake Studies Department, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey A. Deniz, Technological Engineering Services Co. Ltd., Po Box 45, Aksu, Ankara, Turkey Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Quantification of landslide susceptibility variability in space and time in response to static and dynamic conditions is a fundamental research challenge. Here, we identify and apply new modeling and remote sensing observation techniques to statistically characterize susceptibility distributions under dynamic moisture conditions. The methods are applied at two study regions: Cleveland Corral, California, US and Dhading, Nepal. The results show that the temporal variability of safety factors is lower during the wet season than the dry season, but this variability, when scaled by mean seasonal stability, is constant annually. Relative variability differs by region with lower variability in Nepal, the highly susceptible region. L-Moment evaluations indicate that Nepal has a consistent, regional probability distribution, but that California has two distinct distributions. The variability in time is not normally distributed for either region. For both regions, transitional characteristic of safety factors show a strong power law relationship between the average duration and number of periods during which sites are highly susceptible. Because the mapped landslide locations typically had frequent crossings with brief unstable conditions, a consistent physical mechanism is pointed to as a possible cause of slope failure. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-21 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9834-4 Authors Ram L. Ray, Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Dr., San Diego, CA 92182, USA Jennifer M. Jacobs, Environmental Research Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of New Hampshire, 35 Colovos Rd., Durham, NH 03824, USA Thomas P. Ballestero, Environmental Research Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of New Hampshire, 35 Colovos Rd., Durham, NH 03824, USA Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Pakistan is exposed to numerous hazards, but the problem of recurrent floods has been causing massive losses to lives and other properties. Swat valley is no exception to it. In this paper, an attempt has been made to analyse the causes and associated socio-economic impacts of floods on the Swat valley, Pakistan. Swat valley falls in the Hindukush region, North-west-Pakistan. The valley has been studied with special reference to its physical and socio-economic environment. Similarly, three-sample villages were also randomly selected from the active floodplain for micro-level analysis. The sample villages include Ningolai, Delay and Ghureijo. All the three-sample communities are located on the right bank of river Swat. This area is located in the active flood zone of Swat valley. The analysis revealed that in the study area, floods occur during summer season, which is mainly caused by heavy rainfall as well as rapid melting of snow and glacier. Besides these, there are some floods intensifying factors, which accelerate intensity of floods and enhance resultant damages in the valley. It was found that during flood season, water overflows the natural levees and trigger tremendous loses to housing, agricultural land, standing crops and other properties. The flood-related Government Departments have only implemented limited structural mitigation measures. However, in addition to structural measure, land-use zoning and flood abatement strategies would largely help in reducing the adverse consequences of this recurrent phenomenon. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-22 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9830-8 Authors Atta-ur-Rahman, Department of Geography, Urban and Regional Planning, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan Amir Nawaz Khan, Centre for Disaster Preparedness and Management, University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Pakistan Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    On October 4, 2010, the embankment of No. 10 red mud—waste product during bauxite refining—reservoir of MAL Co. Ltd. alumina plant collapsed. Around 700 000 cubic meter of alkaline slurry with 11–13 pH value flooded three nearby settlements. Ten people were killed, 123 wounded, and about 350 houses were damaged or became uninhabitable in one of the biggest industrial and ecological catastrophe in modern history of Hungary. Synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR) is the only geodetic technique that can reveal the past stability and motion history of the broken reservoir. We performed a persistent scatterer InSAR (PSI) analysis to contribute to the better understanding of the disaster. The key question we address in this study is whether there were signs prior to October 4th event which may have prognosticated the disaster. The PSI results could reveal if the dam was stable in the past without prior signs of the failure or there were definite indications of deformation before the collapse and proper monitoring of motions could have highlighted the risk and the disaster may have been prevented. This is a rare event and its PSI study is unique and may be critical in understanding it and helping to prevent other similar occurrences. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-7 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9816-6 Authors Gyula Grenerczy, Satellite Geodetic Observatory, Institute of Geodesy Cartography and Remote Sensing, PO Box 585, 1592 Budapest, Hungary Urs Wegmüller, Gamma Remote Sensing, Worbstrasse 225, 3073 Gümligen, Switzerland Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    A significant part of Campania is extensively covered by volcaniclastic soils, deriving from the alteration of airfall-sedimented formations of layered ashes and pumices that were ejected by Campi Flegrei and Mt. Somma–Vesuvius during explosive eruptions. Where such soils cover steep slopes cut in carbonate bedrock, landforms depend essentially on the morpho-evolution of such slopes prior to the deposition of the volcaniclastic soils, because these are generally present only as thin veneers, up to a few meters of total thickness. Historical records and local literature testify that, in this part of Campania, landslides that originate on carbonate slopes covered by such soils and terminate at their foot or at gully outlets are frequent, following critical rainfall events. Such landslides can be classified as complex , occurring initially as debris slides, but rapidly evolving into debris avalanches and/or debris flows. The localization of the initial sliding areas (i.e. “sources”) on the slopes depends on both the spatial distribution of characters of the soil cover and the spatial distribution of the triggering rainfall events. It therefore appears reasonable to separate the two aspects of the problem and focus on the former one, in order to attempt an assessment of soil sliding susceptibility in the event of landslide-triggering rainfall. In this paper, some results of the application of a method aimed at such an assessment are presented. The method, called SLIDE (from SLiding Initiation areas DEtection), is based on the concept that, for a spatially homogeneous soil cover and a spatially homogeneous landslide-triggering rainfall sequence, different values of threshold slope gradient for limit equilibrium conditions exist, depending on morphological characters of the soil cover, such as its continuity and planform curvature. The method is based on the assessment of (1) soil cover presence, (2) discontinuities within soil cover, (3) slope gradients and curvature, by means of good resolution DEMs. It has been applied to sample carbonate slopes of Campania, where landslides originated either repeatedly or recently. Results are encouraging, and a soil sliding susceptibility map of a large area, based on a simplified version of method, is also presented. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9807-7 Authors Sebastiano Perriello Zampelli, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy Eliana Bellucci Sessa, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia—Osservatorio Vesuviano, Naples, Italy Marco Cavallaro, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    An evidence-based flood hazard analysis in mountain streams requires the identification and the quantitative characterisation of multiple possible processes. These processes result from specific triggering mechanisms on the hillslopes (i.e. landslides, debris flows), in-channel morphodynamic processes associated with sudden bed changes and stochastic processes taking place at critical stream configurations (e.g. occlusion of bridges, failure of levees). From a hazard assessment perspective, such possible processes are related to considerable uncertainties underlying the hydrological cause-effect chains. Overcoming these uncertainties still remains a major challenge in hazard and risk assessment and represents a necessary condition for a reliable spatial representation of process intensities and the associated probabilities. As a result of an accurate analysis of the conceptual flaws present in the procedures currently employed for hazard mapping in South Tyrol (Italy) and Carinthia (Austria), we propose a structured approach as a means to enhance the integration of hillslope, morphodynamic and stochastic processes into conventional flood hazard prediction for mountain basins. To this aim, a functional distinction is introduced between prevailing one-dimensional and two-dimensional process propagation domains, i.e., between confined and semi- to unconfined stream segments. The former domains are mostly responsible for the generation of water, sediment and wood fluxes, and the latter are where flooding of inactive channel areas (i.e. alluvial fans, floodplains) can occur. For the 1D process propagation domain, we discuss how to carry out a process routing along the stream system and how to integrate numerical models output with expert judgement in order to derive consistent event scenarios, thus providing a consistent quantification of the input variables needed for the associated 2D domains. Within these latter domains, two main types of spatial sub-domains can be identified based on the predictability of their dynamics, i.e., stochastic and quasi-deterministic. Advantages and limitations offered by this methodology are finally discussed with respect to hazard and risk assessment in mountain basins. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-19 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9811-y Authors B. Mazzorana, Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Autonomous Province of Bolzano South Tyrol, Bolzano, Italy F. Comiti, Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy S. Fuchs, Institute of Mountain Risk Engineering, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    This paper deals with coping and adaptation processes to natural hazards and (potential) climate change impacts. Selected response measures to natural hazards are critically reviewed with respect to the actual and potential consequences that these measures might imply for additional adaptation needs and changes within social-ecological systems. In this context, the author introduces the concept of first- and second-order adaptation processes in order to underline the cascade process that adaptation implies, the potentials for failure, and the limits of adaptation. Important aspects of first- and second-order adaptation processes as well as the issue of the limits of adaptation are illustrated based on observations and empirical work conducted in Vietnam. In its final part, the paper discusses the findings in light of selected theoretical approaches that might help to understand how stabilization and destabilization processes are influenced or even triggered by adaptation measures. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-30 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9806-8 Authors Jörn Birkmann, Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), United Nations University, UN Campus, Hermann-Ehlers-Str. 10, 53113 Bonn, Germany Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    There is an increasing concern that the current management practices for many coastal regions are unsustainable. Very few countries have planned to deal with the exacerbation of environmental decline in the face of sea level rise. It is therefore necessary to assess socioeconomic and environmental impacts of sea level rises to better understand the vulnerability of coastal zones, as part of devising adaptive and integrated management principles. This paper presents a systematic approach by which relevant stakeholders can be actively engaged in prioritising flood impact issues and deriving information for quantification of impacts for adaptation measures and demonstrates the approach through implementation in the Gippsland coastal region. As outcomes of the project, we have identified key issues of concern for this region for flood impacts and constructed synthetic response functions for quantification of impacts of floods on some of the key issues in the region. The analysis also showed that stakeholders consider that some of the issues are not likely to be significantly affected by floods and thus may not require adaptation measures. The analysis did not provide high agreement on some issues. Different approaches are required to assess the importance of these issues and to establish impact response functions for them. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-20 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9812-x Authors Dushmanta Dutta, SASE, Monash University, Churchill, VIC 3842, Australia Wendy Wright, SASE, Monash University, Churchill, VIC 3842, Australia Philip Rayment, SASE, Monash University, Churchill, VIC 3842, Australia Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    A coupled 2D mathematical modelling study of landslide dam failure and flood is presented, complementing our experimental investigation presented in the companion paper. The model is built upon the shallow water hydrodynamic equations. The governing equations are numerically solved using the total-variation-diminishing version of the second-order weighted-average-flux method along with the HLLC (Harten, Lax and van Leer with Contact wave restored) approximate Riemann solver. Two parameters related to bed-load sediment transport and critical slope stability are calibrated using the measured stage hydrographs from two runs of the flume experiments. The calibrated model is then applied to other independent runs of the experiments featuring different inflow discharges, dam geometry, dam composition and initial breach dimensions. It is found to be able to satisfactorily reproduce the measured stage hydrographs and the widening of initial breach. The experimental observation of the prime role of the inflow discharge and initial breach in dictating the dam failure process and flood is unequivocally resolved, along with the impacts of dam geometry as well the content of cohesive clay and gravel in the dam. Interestingly, the downstream peak discharge and stage of the flood are substantially reduced by initial breach, which clearly exemplifies its role in modulating the flooding. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-25 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9815-7 Authors Zhixian Cao, State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072 China Zhiyuan Yue, Yangtze River Waterway Research Institute, Wuhan, China Gareth Pender, School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Landslide dam failure can trigger catastrophic flooding in the downstream. However, field observation of such flooding is rarely available, while laboratory experimental studies are sparse. The mechanism of landslide dam failure and the flood has so far remained insufficiently understood. Here, we present an experimental investigation of landslide dam failure and the flood. A total of 28 runs of experiments are carried out in a flume of 80 m × 1.2 m × 0.8 m, with differing inflow discharge, dam composition, dam geometry, and initial breach dimension. An array of twelve automatic water-level probes is deployed to measure the stage hydrographs along the flume, and the video recording of the dam failure processes facilitates an estimation of the widening of initial breach. Under the present experimental conditions with dams composed of homogeneous materials, landslide dam failure is primarily caused by erosion of overtopping flow, and lateral mass collapse is also considerable during the cause of breach widening. Cohesive clay may act to mitigate the seepage through the dam and thus its subsidence and appreciably modulate the dam failure process and the flood. However, the impacts of clay may be readily overwhelmed by a large inflow discharge and initial breach. Gravels in the dam may appreciably depress the rate of the dam failure process and thus modify the flood. The present work provides new experimental data set for testing mathematical models of the flood flow due to landslide dam failure. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-17 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9814-8 Authors Zhixian Cao, State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072 China Zhiyuan Yue, Yangtze River Waterway Research Institute, Wuhan, China Gareth Pender, School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    This study classifies the vegetation status to determine the factors affecting grassland succession retardation in the Juifang area. Data derived from Land Use Investigation of Taiwan, GIS techniques, multivariate analysis, and on-site investigation was applied in this research. Discriminant analysis shows that forests that have low human disturbance cannot be correctly identified and classified by the topography and soil depth. This indicates that the topography and soil depth in the Juifang area are not the limiting factors of forest growth. Grasslands are usually susceptible to periodic wildfires. This can be used as an environmental index for disturbed and/or polluted soils. Comparing the current vegetation status with the vegetation distribution derived from discriminant analysis, potential wildfire frequency can be estimated. Acid sulfate soils and copper-contaminated soils are the major polluted soils in the Juifang area. Because the Juifang area is an important coal field in northern Taiwan, acid sulfate can be easily found in the spoiled soils of several mining spots due to sulfur oxidation from the soil and/or rock layers dug out during mining operations. Copper-contaminated soils were detected at the sites near the Li-Lo Copper Refining Plant and Taiwan Metal Mining Company. Polluted soils and periodic wildfires inhibiting the invasion of trees are the major factors retarding the succession of grasslands in the Juifang area. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-16 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9813-9 Authors Chao-Yuan Lin, Department of Soil and Water Conservation, National Chung Hsing University, 250 Kuo Kuang Road, Taichung, 402 Taiwan, ROC Chin-Wei Chuang, Department of Soil and Water Conservation, National Chung Hsing University, 250 Kuo Kuang Road, Taichung, 402 Taiwan, ROC Chang-Hai Chien, Department of Soil and Water Conservation, National Chung Hsing University, 250 Kuo Kuang Road, Taichung, 402 Taiwan, ROC Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    The study analyses the numbers of days with strong winds in Krakow during the period 2000–2007 using anemometric records and fire department data. Patterns are identified in the seasonal and annual variation of strong winds. Particular attention is devoted to extreme events. Based on measurements, the study finds that strong winds mostly occurred in winter. Fire department call-out data show that repair of damage caused by strong winds and gusts of wind was needed equally as frequently in summertime. Strong winds accompanying summer storms are often of a local nature and are not always recorded by weather stations. Wind damage was mapped using requests for fire department assistance. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-17 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9809-5 Authors Joanna Więcław-Michniewska, Department of Geography of Population, Settlement and Farming, Institute of Geography and Spatial Management, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Krakow, Poland Katarzyna Piotrowicz, Department of Climatology, Institute of Geography and Spatial Management, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Krakow, Poland Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia with a population of about 9.6 million people, inhabiting an area of about 660 square-km. In the last three decades, urban development of Jakarta has grown very rapidly in the sectors of industry, trade, transportation, real estate, and many others. This exponentially increased urban development introduces several environmental problems. Land subsidence is one of them. The resulted land subsidence will also then affect the urban development plan and process. It has been reported for many years that several places in Jakarta are subsiding at different rates. The leveling surveys, GPS survey methods, and InSAR measurements have been used to study land subsidence in Jakarta, over the period of 1982–2010. In general, it was found that the land subsidence exhibits spatial and temporal variations, with the rates of about 1–15 cm/year. A few locations can have the subsidence rates up to about 20–28 cm/year. There are four different types of land subsidence that can be expected to occur in the Jakarta basin, namely: subsidence due to groundwater extraction, subsidence induced by the load of constructions (i.e., settlement of high compressibility soil), subsidence caused by natural consolidation of alluvial soil, and tectonic subsidence. It was found that the spatial and temporal variations of land subsidence depend on the corresponding variations of groundwater extraction, coupled with the characteristics of sedimentary layers and building loads above it. In general, there is strong relation between land subsidence and urban development activities in Jakarta. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-19 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9866-9 Authors Hasanuddin Z. Abidin, Geodesy Research Division, Institute of Technology Bandung, Jl. Ganesha 10, Bandung, Indonesia Heri Andreas, Geodesy Research Division, Institute of Technology Bandung, Jl. Ganesha 10, Bandung, Indonesia Irwan Gumilar, Geodesy Research Division, Institute of Technology Bandung, Jl. Ganesha 10, Bandung, Indonesia Yoichi Fukuda, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan Yusuf E. Pohan, Jakarta Provincial Agency of Industry and Mining, Jl. MT Haryono, Jakarta, 52–53 Indonesia T. Deguchi, School of Engineering, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    A method of initializing tropical cyclones in high-resolution numerical models is developed by modifying a data assimilation system, the NRL atmospheric variational data assimilation system (NAVDAS), which was designed for general mesoscale weather prediction using a three-dimensional variational (3DVAR) analysis with intermittent updates. The method includes the following three upgrades to overcome difficulties resulting from tropical cyclone initialization with the NAVDAS analysis. First, synthetic observation soundings are generated on 9 vertical levels at 49 points for strong storms ( v max  〉 23.1 m s −1 ) and 41 points for weak storms around each cyclone center to supplement the observations used by the analysis. Secondly, a vortex relocation method for nested grids is developed to correct the cyclone position in the background fields of the analysis for each nested mesh. Lastly, the 3DVAR analysis is modified to gradually reduce the horizontal length scale and geostrophic coupling constraint near the center of a tropical cyclone for minimizing the problems introduced by improper covariances and coupling constraint used in the analysis. The synthetic observations significantly improve the intensity and structure of the analysis and the track forecast. The vortex relocation significantly improves the first guess background, avoiding the large analysis corrections that would be needed to correct cyclone position, and reducing the imbalance introduced by such large analysis increments. The modifications to the analysis length scale and geostrophic coupling constraint successfully improve the inner core analysis, providing a tighter circulation, and reducing the underestimate of the mass field gradient. Among the three upgrades, the vortex relocation provides the largest improvement to the tropical cyclone initialization and forecast. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-17 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9838-0 Authors Chi-Sann Liou, Naval Research Laboratory, Marine Meteorology Division, Monterey, CA, USA Keith D. Sashegyi, Naval Research Laboratory, Marine Meteorology Division, Monterey, CA, USA Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    The goal of this paper is to assess the landslide susceptibility of a hilly area in the Subcarpathian sector of the Prahova Valley, using the weight of evidence statistical method. This method aims to reduce the multitude of landslide-related conditions to a pattern of a few discrete predictive variables. The method is based on the decision of which state is more likely to occur grounded on the presence or absence of a predictive variable and the occurrence of an event (e.g., landslide) within a pixel. Based on the chi-square test and the Pearson correlation applied on the data, the selected conditionally independent variables in this study were as follows: slope gradient , slope aspect , and land use. Weights calculated individually for the three themes were added to produce a probability estimate of the area. The predictive power of the map was tested on the basis of a split sample of landslides that were not used in the modeling process. The fact that a great percent of the declivitous surfaces are susceptible to landslides shows the dominant manner of the evolution of the Subcarpathian slopes, the acceleration or deceleration of the process being influenced by the land use. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9879-4 Authors Iuliana Armaş, Department of Geomorphology, Faculty of Geography, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    This paper presents two types of analysis: an antecedent rainfall analysis based on daily rainfall and an intensity-duration analysis of rainfall events based on hourly data in perialpine Slovenia in the Škofjeloško Cerkljansko hills. For this purpose, eight rainfall events that are known to have caused landslides in the period from 1990 to 2010 were studied. Over the observed period, approximately 400 records of landslides were collected. Rainfall data were obtained from three rain gauges. The daily rainfall from the 30 days before landslide events was investigated based on the type of landslides and their geo-environmental setting, the dates of confirmed landslide activity and different consecutive rainfall periods. The analysis revealed that the rainfall events triggering slope failure can be divided into two groups according to the different antecedent periods. The first group of landslides typically occurred after short-duration rainstorms with high intensity, when the daily rainfall exceeded the antecedent rainfall. The second group comprises the rainfall events with a longer antecedent period of at least 7 days. A comparison of the plotted peak and mean intensities indicates that the rainfall patterns that govern slope failure are similar but do not necessarily reflect the rainfall intensity at the time of shallow landslides in the Davča or Poljane areas, where the majority of the landslides occurred. Because of several limitations, the suggested threshold cannot be compared and evaluated with other thresholds. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-13 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9882-9 Authors Mateja Jemec, Geological Survey of Slovenia, Dimičeva Ulica 14, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia Marko Komac, Geological Survey of Slovenia, Dimičeva Ulica 14, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    Assessment and inventory on soil erosion hazard are essential for the formulation of successful hazard mitigation plans and sustainable development. The objective of this study was to assess and map soil erosion hazard in Lesser Himalaya with a case study. The Dabka watershed constitutes a part of the Kosi Basin in the Lesser Himalaya, India, in district Nainital has been selected for the case illustration. The average rate of erosion hazard is 0.68 mm/year or 224 tons/km 2 /year. Anthropogenic and geo-environmental factors have together significantly accelerated the rate of erosion. This reconnaissance study estimates the erosion rate over the period of 3 years (2006–2008) as 1.21 mm/year (398 tons/km 2 /year) in the barren land having geological background of diamictite, siltstone and shale rocks, 0.92 mm/year (302 tons/km 2 /year) in the agricultural land with lithology of diamictite, slates, siltstone, limestone rocks, while in the forest land, it varies between 0.20 mm/year (66 tons/km 2 /year) under dense forest land having the geology of quartzwacke and quartrenite rocks and 0.40 mm/year (132 tons/km 2 /year) under open forest/shrubs land having geological setup of shale, dolomite and gypsum rocks. Compared to the intensity of erosion in the least disturbed dense forest, the erosion rate is about 5–6 times higher in the most disturbed agricultural land and barren land, respectively. The erosion hazard zones delineated following scalogram modelling approach. Integrated scalogram modelling approach resulted in severe classes of soil erosion hazard in the study area with numerical values of Erosion Hazard Index (EHI) ranging between 01 (very low hazard) and 5 (very high hazard). Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-21 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9833-5 Authors Pradeep K. Rawat, Department of Geography, Kumaun University, Nainital, 263002 India P. C. Tiwari, Department of Geography, Kumaun University, Nainital, 263002 India C. C. Pant, Department of Geology, Kumaun University, Nainital, 263002 India A. K. Sharama, Department of Geology, Kumaun University, Nainital, 263002 India P. D. Pant, Department of Geology, Kumaun University, Nainital, 263002 India Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    This paper explores the advantages of applying the concept of social-ecological resilience (SER) and the related thinking in transdisciplinary research. The theoretical reflections are exemplified by transdisciplinary research experiences using the concept of SER as a bridging concept in the field of climate-change adaptation instead of developing a new and very context-specific conceptual bridge. The findings are based on ontological reflections concerning the complex and hybrid phenomenon of climate change and the need for transdisciplinary research as well as on reflections on the performed interdisciplinary research and the exploratory transdisciplinary research approach with practitioners from the German administration. The experiences so far have shown that it was more focused on the general ideas of social-ecological resilience thinking instead of using the concept of SER as an analytical tool. We conclude that the use of a common conceptual framework in general and of social-ecological resilience thinking in particular offers tangible advantages in transdisciplinary research dealing with climate change and adaptation to the impacts of climate change. In our case, social-ecological resilience thinking helped—after translation into practical terms—to open the field for further consideration from the very beginning as well as to open the space for common creative work; to define the problem; and to choose the relevant variables to look at. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-11 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9821-9 Authors Sonja Deppisch, HafenCity University Hamburg, Winterhuder Weg 31, 22085 Hamburg, Germany Sanin Hasibovic, HafenCity University Hamburg, Winterhuder Weg 31, 22085 Hamburg, Germany Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description: Author(s): Gregory P Asner Affiliation(s): Carnegie Institution for Science, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA 94305, USA

Description: We introduce a simplified version of the soccer ball model (SBM) developed by Niedermeier et al (2014 Geophys. Res. Lett. 41 [http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2013GL058684] 736–741 ) into the Community Atmospheric Model version 5 (CAM5). It is the first time that SBM is used in an atmospheric model to parameterize the heterogeneous ice nucleation. The SBM, which was simplified for its suitable application in atmospheric models, uses the classical nucleation theory to describe the immersion/condensation freezing by dust in the mixed-phase cloud regime. Uncertain parameters (mean contact angle, standard deviation of contact angle probability distribution, and number of surface sites) in the SBM are constrained by fitting them to recent natural dust (Saharan dust) datasets. With the SBM in CAM5, we investigate the sensitivity of modeled cloud properties to the SBM parameters, and find significant seasonal and regional differences in the sensitivity among the...

Description: Despite a large body of legislation, high nutrient loads are still emitted in European inland waters. In the present study we evaluate a set of alternative scenarios aiming at reducing nitrogen and phosphorus emissions from anthropogenic activities to all European Seas. In particular, we tested the full implementation of the European Urban Waste Water Directive, which controls emissions from point source. In addition, we associated the full implementation of this Directive with a ban of phosphorus-based laundry detergents. Then we tested two human diet scenarios and their impacts on nutrient emissions. We also developed a scenario based on an optimal use of organic manure. The impacts of all our scenarios were evaluated using a statistical model of nitrogen and phosphorus fate (GREEN) linked to an agro-economic model (CAPRI). We show that the ban of phosphorus-based laundry detergents coupled with the full implementation of the Urban Waste Water Directive is the most effective ap...

Description: Description unavailable

Description: In the Alberta oil sands region, insufficient knowledge of pre-disturbance reference conditions has undermined the ability of the Regional Aquatics Monitoring Program (RAMP) to detect pollution of the Athabasca River, because sampling began three decades after the industry started and the river naturally erodes oil-bearing strata. Here, we apply a novel approach to characterize pre-industrial reference metal concentrations in river sediment downstream of Alberta oil sands development by analyzing metal concentrations in sediments deposited in floodplain lakes of the Athabasca Delta during 1700–1916, when they were strongly influenced by Athabasca River floodwaters. We compared results to metal concentrations in surficial bottom sediments sampled by RAMP (2010–2013) at downstream sites of the Athabasca River and distributaries. When normalized to lithium content, concentrations of vanadium (a metal of concern in the oil sands region) and other priority pollutants (Be, Cd, Cr, Cu, ...

Description: Amazon forests represent nearly half of all tropical vegetation biomass and, through photosynthesis and respiration, annually process more than twice the amount of estimated carbon (CO 2 ) from fossil fuel emissions. Yet the seasonality of Amazon canopy cover, and the extent to which seasonal fluctuations in water availability and photosynthetically available radiation influence these processes, is still poorly understood. Implementing six remotely sensed data sets spanning nine years (2003–2011), with reported field and flux tower data, we show that southern equatorial Amazon forests exhibit a distinctive seasonal signal. Seasonal timing of water availability, canopy biomass growth and net leaf flush are asynchronous in regions with short dry seasons and become more synchronous across a west-to-east longitudinal moisture gradient of increasing dry season. Forest cover is responsive to seasonal disparities in both water and solar radiation availability, temporally adjust...

Description: Estimates of global thunderstorm activity have been made predominately by direct measurements of lightning discharges around the globe, either by optical measurements from satellites, or using ground-based radio antennas. In this paper we propose a new methodology in which thunderstorm clusters are constructed based on the lightning strokes detected by the World Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN) in the very low frequency range. We find that even with low lightning detection efficiency on a global scale, the spatial and temporal distribution of global thunderstorm cells is well reproduced. This is validated by comparing the global diurnal variations of the thunderstorm cells, and the currents produced by these storms, with the well-known Carnegie Curve, which represents the mean diurnal variability of the global atmospheric electric circuit, driven by thunderstorm activity. While the Carnegie Curve agrees well with our diurnal thunderstorm cluster variations, there is little...

Description: Climate change might impact crop yields considerably and anticipated transformations of agricultural systems are needed in the coming decades to sustain affordable food provision. However, decision-making on transformational shifts in agricultural systems is plagued by uncertainties concerning the nature and geography of climate change, its impacts, and adequate responses. Locking agricultural systems into inadequate transformations costly to adjust is a significant risk and this acts as an incentive to delay action. It is crucial to gain insight into how much transformation is required from agricultural systems, how robust such strategies are, and how we can defuse the associated challenge for decision-making. While implementing a definition related to large changes in resource use into a global impact assessment modelling framework, we find transformational adaptations to be required of agricultural systems in most regions by 2050s in order to cope with climate change. However,...

Description: Subgrid-scale variability is one of the main reasons why parameterizations are needed in large-scale models. Although some parameterizations started to address the issue of subgrid variability by introducing a subgrid probability distribution function for relevant quantities, the spatial structure has been typically ignored and thus the subgrid-scale interactions cannot be accounted for physically. Here we present a new statistical-physics-like approach whereby the spatial autocorrelation function can be used to physically capture the net effects of subgrid cloud interaction with radiation. The new approach is able to faithfully reproduce the Monte Carlo 3D simulation results with several orders less computational cost, allowing for more realistic representation of cloud radiation interactions in large-scale models.

Description: Unprecedented wet conditions are reported in the 2014 summer (December–March) in South-western Amazon, with rainfall about 100% above normal. Discharge in the Madeira River (the main southern Amazon tributary) has been 74% higher than normal (58 000 m 3 s −1 ) at Porto Velho and 380% (25 000 m 3 s −1 ) at Rurrenabaque, at the exit of the Andes in summer, while levels of the Rio Negro at Manaus were 29.47 m in June 2014, corresponding to the fifth highest record during the 113 years record of the Rio Negro. While previous floods in Amazonia have been related to La Niña and/or warmer than normal tropical South Atlantic, the 2014 rainfall and flood anomalies are associated with warm condition in the western Pacific-Indian Ocean and with an exceptionally warm Subtropical South Atlantic. Our results suggest that the tropical and subtropical South Atlantic SST gradient is a main driver for moisture transport from the Atlantic toward south-western A...

Description: Correcting biases in atmospheric variables prior to impact studies or dynamical downscaling can lead to new biases as dynamical consistency between the ‘corrected’ fields is not maintained. Use of these bias corrected fields for subsequent impact studies and dynamical downscaling provides input conditions that do not appropriately represent intervariable relationships in atmospheric fields. Here we investigate the consequences of the lack of dynamical consistency in bias correction using a measure of model consistency—the potential vorticity (PV). This paper presents an assessment of the biases present in PV using two alternative correction techniques—an approach where bias correction is performed individually on each atmospheric variable, thereby ignoring the physical relationships that exists between the multiple variables that are corrected, and a second approach where bias correction is performed directly on the PV field, thereby keeping the system dynamically coherent throug...

Description: Very large-fires (VLFs) have widespread impacts on ecosystems, air quality, fire suppression resources, and in many regions account for a majority of total area burned. Empirical generalized linear models of the largest fires (〉5000 ha) across the contiguous United States (US) were developed at ∼60 km spatial and weekly temporal resolutions using solely atmospheric predictors. Climate−fire relationships on interannual timescales were evident, with wetter conditions than normal in the previous growing season enhancing VLFs probability in rangeland systems and with concurrent long-term drought enhancing VLFs probability in forested systems. Information at sub-seasonal timescales further refined these relationships, with short-term fire weather being a significant predictor in rangelands and fire danger indices linked to dead fuel moisture being a significant predictor in forested lands. Models demonstrated agreement in capturing the observed spatial and temporal variability incl...

Description: The IPCC Guidelines propose 3 Tier levels for greenhouse gas monitoring within the forest land category with a hierarchical order in terms of accuracy, data requirements and complexity. Due to missing data and/or capacities, many developing countries, potentially interested in the reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation scheme, have to rely on Tier 1 default values with highest uncertainties. A possible way to increase the credibility of uncertain estimates is to apply a conservative approach, for which standard statistical information is needed. However, such information is currently not available for the IPCC values. In our study we combine a recent global forest mask, an ecological zoning map and the pan-tropical AGB datasets of Saatchi and Baccini to derive mean forest AGB values per ecological zone and continent as well as their corresponding confidence intervals. Such analysis can be considered transparent as the datasets/methodologies are well document...

Description: In permafrost soils, ‘excess ice’, also referred to as ground ice, exists in amounts exceeding soil porosity in forms such as ice lenses and wedges. Here, we incorporate a simple representation of excess ice in the Community Land Model (CLM4.5) to investigate how excess ice affects projected permafrost thaw and associated hydrologic responses. We initialize spatially explicit excess ice obtained from the Circum-Arctic Map of Permafrost and Ground-Ice Conditions. The excess ice in the model acts to slightly reduce projected soil warming by about 0.35 °C by 2100 in a high greenhouse gas emissions scenario. The presence of excess ice slows permafrost thaw at a given location with about a 10 year delay in permafrost thaw at 3 m depth at most high excess ice locations. The soil moisture response to excess ice melt is transient and depends largely on the timing of thaw with wetter/saturated soil moisture conditions persisting slightly longer due to delayed post-thaw drainage. Based on ...

Description: There is increasing concern about water constraints limiting oil and gas production using hydraulic fracturing (HF) in shale plays, particularly in semiarid regions and during droughts. Here we evaluate HF vulnerability by comparing HF water demand with supply in the semiarid Texas Eagle Ford play, the largest shale oil producer globally. Current HF water demand (18 billion gallons, bgal; 68 billion liters, bL in 2013) equates to ∼16% of total water consumption in the play area. Projected HF water demand of ∼330 bgal with ∼62 000 additional wells over the next 20 years equates to ∼10% of historic groundwater depletion from regional irrigation. Estimated potential freshwater supplies include ∼1000 bgal over 20 yr from recharge and ∼10 000 bgal from aquifer storage, with land-owner lease agreements often stipulating purchase of freshwater. However, pumpage has resulted in excessive drawdown locally with estimated declines of ∼100–200 ft in ∼6% of the western play area since HF bega...

Description: A nitrogen (N) budget for Denmark has been developed for the years 1990 to 2010, describing the inputs and outputs at the national scale and the internal flows between relevant sectors of the economy. Satisfactorily closing the N budgets for some sectors of the economy was not possible, due to missing or contradictory information. The budgets were nevertheless considered sufficiently reliable to quantify the major flows. Agriculture was responsible for the majority of inputs, though fisheries and energy generation also made significant contributions. Agriculture was the main source of N input to the aquatic environment, whereas agriculture, energy generation and transport all contributed to emissions of reactive N gases to the atmosphere. Significant reductions in inputs of reactive N have been achieved during the 20 years, mainly by restricting the use of N for crop production and improving livestock feeding. This reduction has helped reduce nitrate leaching by about half. Measu...

Description: The 30-year normalized-difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series from AVHRR/MODIS satellite sensors was used in this study to assess the regional vegetation dynamic changes in the Tao River Basin, which cuts across the Eastern Tibetan Plateau (ETP) and the Southwestern Loess Plateau (SLP). First, principal component and correlation analyses were carried out to determine the key climatic variables driving ecological change in the region. Then, regression models were tested to correlate NDVI with the selected climatic variables to determine their predictive power. Finally, Sen’s slope method was used to determine how terrestrial vegetation has responded to regional climate change in the region. The results indicated an average winter season NDVI value of 0.14 in the ETP but only 0.04 in the SLP. Primarily driven by increasing temperature, vegetation growth has generally been enhanced since 1981; spring NDVI increased by 0.03 every 10 years in the ETP and 0.02 in the SLP. Furth...

Description: Ammonia emissions from livestock production can have negative impacts on nearby protected sites and ecosystems that are sensitive to eutrophication and acidification. Trees are effective scavengers of both gaseous and particulate pollutants from the atmosphere making tree belts potentially effective landscape features to support strategies aiming to reduce ammonia impacts. This research used the MODDAS-THETIS a coupled turbulence and deposition turbulence model, to examine the relationships between tree canopy structure and ammonia capture for three source types—animal housing, slurry lagoon, and livestock under a tree canopy. By altering the canopy length, leaf area index, leaf area density, and height of the canopy in the model the capture efficiencies varied substantially. A maximum of 27% of the emitted ammonia was captured by tree canopy for the animal housing source, for the slurry lagoon the maximum was 19%, while the livestock under trees attained a maximum of 60% recaptu...

Description: It is known that carbon dioxide emissions cause the Earth to warm, but no previous study has focused on examining how long it takes to reach maximum warming following a particular CO 2 emission. Using conjoined results of carbon-cycle and physical-climate model intercomparison projects (Taylor et al 2012, Joos et al 2013), we find the median time between an emission and maximum warming is 10.1 years, with a 90% probability range of 6.6–30.7 years. We evaluate uncertainties in timing and amount of warming, partitioning them into three contributing factors: carbon cycle, climate sensitivity and ocean thermal inertia. If uncertainty in any one factor is reduced to zero without reducing uncertainty in the other factors, the majority of overall uncertainty remains. Thus, narrowing uncertainty in century-scale warming depends on narrowing uncertainty in all contributing factors. Our results indicate that benefit from avoided climate damage from avoided CO 2

Description:    The formulation of watershed management strategies to protect water resources threatened by soil erosion and sedimentation requires a thorough understanding of sediment sources and factors that drive soil movement in the watershed. This paper describes a study of medium-term water-driven soil erosion rates in a mountainous watershed of the Shihmen Reservoir in Taiwan. A total of 60 sampling sites were selected along a hillslope. At each sampling site, the inventory 137 Cs activity was determined and then calculated with the diffusion and migration model to derive soil erosion rates. The rates are one to two orders of magnitude lower than estimates using the Universal Soil Loss Equation, a soil erosion model often used in Taiwan. Results of multiple regression analysis indicate that the spatial variability of soil erosion rates is associated with the relative position of a sampling site to the nearest ridge and soil bulk densities ( r 2  = 0.33, p  〈 0.01). Finally, the patterns of soil redistribution rates on the hillslope follow the 137 Cs hillslope model as soil erosion increases in the downslope direction. No deposition site is found at footslope because soil deposition is swept away by regular flooding along the stream channel. This study is an important first step in using 137 Cs as a tracer of soil redistribution in mountainous watersheds of Taiwan. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-14 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9749-0 Authors Yu-Jia Chiu, Center for Weather Climate and Disaster Research, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt RD., Taipei, 10617 Taiwan, ROC Kang-Tsung Chang, Center for Weather Climate and Disaster Research, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt RD., Taipei, 10617 Taiwan, ROC Yi-Chin Chen, Center for Weather Climate and Disaster Research, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt RD., Taipei, 10617 Taiwan, ROC Jiunn-Hsing Chao, Center for Weather Climate and Disaster Research, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt RD., Taipei, 10617 Taiwan, ROC Hong-Yuan Lee, Center for Weather Climate and Disaster Research, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt RD., Taipei, 10617 Taiwan, ROC Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X

Description:    This paper examines hydrodynamic pressure diagrams due to earthquakes acting on distinct configurations of the upstream face of a dam, considering the reservoir length and different bathymetries of the reservoir bottom. Two suitable mathematical models are used to obtain the dynamic pressure on the dam, and the reservoir free surface oscillation. Conceptual mathematical models are proposed to study the impact of a landslide triggered by an earthquake, and its progress into the reservoir. The waves formed when a landslide advances into the reservoir are tested with the help of laboratory results. These waves and their propagation in the reservoir are studied using experimental data and numerical results, including wave-type analyses based on dimensionless parameters. Two distinct 1DH and 2DV numerical models based on different mathematical formulations are tested. A discussion of physical and numerical results is detailed in a general risk context and uncertainty associated with the input data in a deterministic model. Numerical simulations are performed for the upper and lower limits of the sliding mass velocity diagram which is obtained as a result of the intrinsic uncertainty of the stochastic nature of the friction angle. Finally, the findings are discussed and some conclusions drawn. Content Type Journal Article Pages 1-32 DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9740-9 Authors José Simão Antunes do Carmo, Department of Civil Engineering, IMAR/FCTUC, Polo II of the University, 3030-788 Coimbra, Portugal Rita Fernandes de Carvalho, Department of Civil Engineering, IMAR/FCTUC, Polo II of the University, 3030-788 Coimbra, Portugal Journal Natural Hazards Online ISSN 1573-0840 Print ISSN 0921-030X