Validation of the coastal storm risk assessment framework along the Emilia-Romagna coast

Abstract

A B S T R A C TThe Italian coasts are threatened by coastal flooding and erosion. The Emilia-Romagna region coastline is exposed to marine storms because of its low-lying nature and massive urbanization. Regional managers need comprehensive tools for coastal storm risk assessment. The RISC-KIT Coastal Risk Assessment Framework (CRAF) provides a conceptual framework, which includes hazard, exposure and vulnerability evaluation, to implement a screening process able to identify littoral zones that can be classified as hotspots (Phase 1) and to successively rank the identified hotspots to select the most critical ones (Phase 2). This study includes the results of the implementation of CRAF Phase 1 in the Emilia-Romagna coast. The method is based on a Coastal Index approach, calculated for 1 km length coastal sectors, applied taking into account both hazard and exposure indicators. The general methodology was partly modified thanks to the strong collaboration with the End-User (Servizio Geologico Sismico e dei Suoli, SGSS) which provided data, suggestions and comments at every step of the implementation. The SGSS also provided data to validate the outcomes of the CRAF methodology. Thus, the critical areas identified by the CRAF were compared with historical (1946-2010) storm impacts, resulting in a reasonable agreement between the identified hotspots.

From Hazard to Consequences: Evaluation of Direct and Indirect Impacts of Flooding Along the Emilia-Romagna Coastline, Italy

“…Two coastal hotspots were selected to evaluate the direct and indirect impacts of extreme events. The hotspots were identified through the application of the first phase of the Coastal Risk Assessment Framework developed in the RISC-KIT project (for more details on the project refer to Van Dongeren et al, 2018; for CRAF phase 1 application along the Emilia-Romagna coastline refer to Armaroli and Duo, 2018). The identified hotspots are the Lido degli Estensi-Lido di Spina coastal area (hereafter referred to as HS1, Ferrara province, Figure 1) and Milano Marittima (HS2, Ravenna province, Figure 1).…”

“…On the right: Lido degli Estensi-Lido di Spina (HS1) and Milano Marittima (HS2). The different colors in the inset indicate the four coastal provinces (modified from Armaroli and Duo, 2018).…”

“…This paper presents the implementation of CRAF Phase 2 for flooding at two coastal hotspots in the Emilia-Romagna (Italy) coast that were identified as critical through CRAF Phase 1 analysis (Armaroli and Duo, 2018). Beyond this, the paper highlights the importance of the quality of the input data for the proper application of an impact assessment, as well as discusses how data quality, hazard modeling uncertainties and damage functions selection could affect the reliability of the final results.…”

Linking source with consequences of coastal storm impacts for climate change and risk reduction scenarios for Mediterranean sandy beaches

“…The 5 RISC-KIT project (www.risckit.eu) provided additional knowledge on this coastal area. The areas most exposed to coastal risk are well known, as can be seen in the works of Perini et al (2016) and Armaroli and Duo (2017).…”

Vulnerability Analysis of the Venetian Littoral and Adopted Mitigation Strategy

“…The following studies comprise a demonstration site on the North-Eastern coast of Italy, and were carried out in collaboration with local stakeholders: RITMARE Flagship Project (Antonioli et al [8], Bezzi et al [9]), CAMP Italy Project, COASTANCE (Montanari and Marasmi [10]), DELOS, Water 2018, 10, 984 2 of 22 (Zanuttigh et al, [11]) COASTGAP-MED, MEDSANDCOAST-ENPI, COASTAL Mapping-DG MARE, EUROSION [12], THESEUS (Zanuttigh [13]), MICORE (Ciavola et al [14]) or RISC-KIT (Armaroli et al [15]). Specific open-source tools and approaches have been developed to support decision-making processes (Zanuttigh et al [16], Torresan et al [17]; Vafeidis et al [18], van Dongeren et al [19]; Stelljes at al.…”