We developed a WSN capable of collecting geophysical measurements on remote active volcanoes. Our main goals were to create a flexible, easy-to-deploy and easy-to-maintain, adaptable, low-cost WSN for temporary or permanent monitoring of seismic tremor. It enables the easy installation of a sensor array in an area of tens of thousands of sqm. It can be used to record data locally for later analysis or for continuously transmitting to a remote laboratory for real-time analysis.

The study analyzes possible climate-change impacts on flood damages in Germany. The study was initiated and supported by the German insurance sector, and the main goal was to identify general climate-related trends in flood hazard and damages and to explore sensitivity of results to climate scenario uncertainty. The study makes use of climate scenarios regionalized for the main river basins in Germany that were fed into a hydrological model.

Two mid-size rockfalls (~2,000 m3 each) occurred at the same place in 2011. While the first event was natural, the second one was artificially triggered and recorded by video cameras and seismic sensors. The measurements showed propagation velocities ranging from 12 to 30 m/s over the successive event phases. The most seismogenic phases were related to ground impact after free-fall and individual block impacts into a protective barrier. DEM reproduced the key features of the rockfall dynamics.

This manuscript presents an investigation of extreme waves events in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean and the impacts on the coast of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. Six extreme waves events generated by extra-tropical cyclones are selected from 2000 to 2010, and their impact on the Rio Grande do Sul coast is studied.

In Patagonia at least 16 moraine-dammed lakes have failed in historical time. Commonly failed lakes were in contact with glaciers at the time of failure and had moderate (≥ 8°) to steep (≥15°) outlet slopes. Seven failed lakes are located in the Baker Basin, Chilean Patagonia, were hydro-electric generation plants are planned. We assessed the outburst susceptibility of moraine-dammed lakes in the Baker Basin and identified 28 lakes with high or very high outburst susceptibility.

Adaptation to unforeseen, hazardous events requires the implementation of purposeful risk reduction strategies that aim at both taking effective measures and using funds most efficiently. Coordination of long-term and short-term risk management strategies is considered crucial. This research discusses current problems and indicates benefits to establishing or strengthening the link between spatial planning (long-term perspective) and emergency management authorities (short-term perspective).

We report the results on the effectiveness of an improved approach to surge and wave simulation by revising wind force. We tested the wind dissipation effects caused by land roughness with various land use types near the coast for wind field generation. As a result, better agreement between the simulated and measured storm winds have been found when considering wind dissipation effects. This modified wind force leads to clearly improved results for storm surge and wave simulation.

Final Version. PDF its the definitive document. The document in format word is not it.

This study analyzes the cause of the rare occurrence of a winter hailstorm over New Delhi/NCR (National Capital Region), India. The absence of increased surface temperature or a low level of moisture incursion during winter cannot generate the deep convection required to sustain a hailstorm. Consequently, NCR shows very few cases of hailstorms in the months of December-January-February, making the winter hail formation a question of interest.