Characterizing Rainfall Discrepancies Between Landslide Sites and the Nearest Rain Gauges Using Radar Estimates: A Case Study from Italy.
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| Title: | Characterizing Rainfall Discrepancies Between Landslide Sites and the Nearest Rain Gauges Using Radar Estimates: A Case Study from Italy. |
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| Authors: | Vennari, Carmela1 (AUTHOR), Chiaravalloti, Francesco1 (AUTHOR) francesco.chiaravalloti@cnr.it, Coscarelli, Roberto1 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Remote Sensing. May2026, Vol. 18 Issue 9, p1435. 23p. |
| Subjects: | Rainfall, Spatial variation, Rain gauges, Rainfall reliability, Rainfall measurement, Landslides |
| Geographic Terms: | Italy |
| Abstract: | Highlights: What are the main findings? Analysis of 548 rainfall events triggering landslides in Italy, using 1 km2 radar rainfall estimates, reveals potentially significant discrepancies between rainfall at landslide locations and at the nearest rain gauge. The probability of large rainfall discrepancies increases with gauge–landslide distance, but substantial differences may occur even at short distances, particularly during convective (summer) events. What are the implications of the main findings? Rain gauge-based estimates of landslide-triggering rainfall may involve substantial uncertainty due to the spatial variability of precipitation. High-resolution distributed radar rainfall products can improve the reconstruction of triggering rainfall and support more reliable rainfall thresholds. The spatial representativeness of rain gauges is critical for accurately estimating rainfall that triggers landslides and for defining operational thresholds. This study evaluates the potential error in conventional rain-gauge-based methods for estimating landslide-triggering rainfall, using 548 landslide events across Italy from the e-ITALICA database, which reports the duration of each rainfall event and the location of the nearest available rain gauge. A radar-based assessment, using the Surface Rainfall Intensity (SRI) product (1 km2 resolution) provided by the Italian Department of Civil Protection, quantified discrepancies between rainfall at landslide locations and at the nearest rain gauges. Seasonal analysis was performed, considering summer events (April–September), typically associated with convective and spatially variable rainfall, and winter events (October–March), generally more stratiform and uniform rainfall. Results indicate that the probability of large discrepancies increases with distance. Summer events show larger discrepancies at short distances compared to winter events, but seasonal distributions converge at larger distances. These findings provide useful insights into rain gauge representativeness in studies of rainfall-induced landslides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: | Engineering Source |
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| Abstract: | Highlights: What are the main findings? Analysis of 548 rainfall events triggering landslides in Italy, using 1 km2 radar rainfall estimates, reveals potentially significant discrepancies between rainfall at landslide locations and at the nearest rain gauge. The probability of large rainfall discrepancies increases with gauge–landslide distance, but substantial differences may occur even at short distances, particularly during convective (summer) events. What are the implications of the main findings? Rain gauge-based estimates of landslide-triggering rainfall may involve substantial uncertainty due to the spatial variability of precipitation. High-resolution distributed radar rainfall products can improve the reconstruction of triggering rainfall and support more reliable rainfall thresholds. The spatial representativeness of rain gauges is critical for accurately estimating rainfall that triggers landslides and for defining operational thresholds. This study evaluates the potential error in conventional rain-gauge-based methods for estimating landslide-triggering rainfall, using 548 landslide events across Italy from the e-ITALICA database, which reports the duration of each rainfall event and the location of the nearest available rain gauge. A radar-based assessment, using the Surface Rainfall Intensity (SRI) product (1 km2 resolution) provided by the Italian Department of Civil Protection, quantified discrepancies between rainfall at landslide locations and at the nearest rain gauges. Seasonal analysis was performed, considering summer events (April–September), typically associated with convective and spatially variable rainfall, and winter events (October–March), generally more stratiform and uniform rainfall. Results indicate that the probability of large discrepancies increases with distance. Summer events show larger discrepancies at short distances compared to winter events, but seasonal distributions converge at larger distances. These findings provide useful insights into rain gauge representativeness in studies of rainfall-induced landslides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| ISSN: | 20724292 |
| DOI: | 10.3390/rs18091435 |
