Articles | Volume 26, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-3723-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-3723-2026
Research article
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10 Aug 2026
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 10 Aug 2026

Climate change may increase landslide frequency despite generally drier conditions in the Mediterranean area

Daniel Camilo Roman Quintero, Ruud van der Ent, Thom Bogaard, and Roberto Greco

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Cited articles

Avino, A., Cimorelli, L., Furcolo, P., Noto, L. V., Pelosi, A., Pianese, D., Villani, P., and Manfreda, S.: Are rainfall extremes increasing in southern Italy?, J. Hydrol. (Amst), 631, 130684, https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JHYDROL.2024.130684, 2024. 
Bezak, N., Jemec Auflič, M., and Mikoš, M.: Reanalysis of soil moisture used for rainfall thresholds for rainfall-induced landslides: The Italian case study, Water (Switzerland), 13, https://doi.org/10.3390/w13141977, 2021. 
Bogaard, T. and Greco, R.: Landslide hydrology: from hydrology to pore pressure, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, 3, 439–459, https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1126, 2016. 
Bozzolan, E., Holcombe, E., Pianosi, F., and Wagener, T.: Synthetic libraries of urban landslide simulations to identify slope failure hotspots and drivers across spatial scales and landscapes, Landslides, 22, 637–654, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-024-02327-4, 2025. 
Bucchignani, E., Montesarchio, M., Zollo, A. L., and Mercogliano, P.: High-resolution climate simulations with COSMO-CLM over Italy: performance evaluation and climate projections for the 21st century, Int. J. Climatol., 36, 735–756, https://doi.org/10.1002/JOC.4379, 2016. 
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Editorial statement
The assessment of climate change impacts on rainfall-triggered shallow landslides in the Campania Region shows that, despite the trend toward drier conditions, landslide occurrence is projected to increase. In this study like in some previous ones conducted for a nearby region, projections indicate a greater increase in landslide frequency under the RCP4.5 scenario than under the RCP8.5 scenario. The authors show that this counter-intuitive result is related to the critical role of antecedent soil moisture in landslide initiation.
Short summary
We present a framework linking projected rainfall with hydro-mechanical processes to assess landslide occurrences in a Mediterranean area, under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. Despite generally drier soils, landslide frequency rises because shifts in the timing and intensity of rainfall, altering antecedent soil moisture during triggering events. This counterintuitive result highlights the importance of rainfall patterns in slope stability and informs climate-risk assessment and adaptation planning.
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