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This paper describes a sustainability assessment methodology and example to select the best sustainable option from candidate conventional gravity and cantilever wall types and steel and polymeric soil-reinforced, mechanically stabilised earth (MSE) walls of different heights. Analyses were carried out using the value integrated model for sustainable evaluations (Mives) methodology, which is based on value theory and multi-attribute assumptions. The paper identifies how indicator issues are scored, weighted and aggregated to generate final numerical scores that allow solution options to be ranked. The final scores include an adjustment based on stakeholder preferences for the relative importance of the three sustainability pillars (environmental, economic and societal/functional). The analysis results show that MSE wall solutions were most often the best option in each category compared to conventional gravity and cantilever wall solutions and, thus, most often they were the final c...

The Gloria storm rainfalls affected Catalonia from 20 to 23 January 2020 and triggered multiple landslides, some of which affected buildings and infrastructures (such as roads and railways). This paper presents the rainfall and landslide datasets collected during the event, and evaluates the performance of a regional landslide early warning system (LEWS) during the Gloria storm applying a fuzzy verification method. The majority of the inventoried landslides can be classified as slides, involving a limited volume of sediment (up to 10 m3), and were triggered in cut slopes along linear infrastructures. Rainfall accumulations were significant in the whole region, especially in the Montseny area, where over 450 mm were registered in 96 h. Generally, the LEWS computed moderate and high warnings in the areas where large rainfall amounts were recorded, and showed good correspondence with the locations where landslides were reported. The fuzzy verification method has been applied using neig...

The sensitive mountain catchment of Portainé (Eastern Pyrenees, Iberian Peninsula) has recently experienced a significant change in its torrential dynamics due to human disturbances. The emplacement of a ski resort at the headwaters led to the surpassing of a geomorphological threshold, with important consequences during flood events. Consequently, since 2008, channel dynamics have turned into sediment-laden, highly destructive torrential flows. In order to assess this phenomenon and o acquire a holistic understanding of the catchment’s behaviour, we carried out a field work-based multidisciplinary study. We considered the interaction of the various controlling factors, including bedrock geology, geomorphological evolution, derived soils and coluvial deposits, rainfall patterns, and the hydrological response of the catchment to flood events. Moreover, anthropogenic land-use changes, its consequential hydrogeomorphic effects and the role of vegetation were also taken into account. Ro...

Entre 2006 y 2015, el barranco de Portaine y su afluente, el barranco de Reguerals (comarca del Pallars Sobira, Pirineos de Lleida), han presentado una intensa actividad torrencial. Durante este periodo se han producido diez avenidas, nueve de las cuales han provocado danos importantes en la carretera de acceso a las pistas de esqui de Port Aine e importantes perdidas economicas asociadas no solo a la reparacion de las infraestructuras, sino tambien a la interrupcion de la actividad turistica despues de cada episodio y a las inversiones realizadas para proteger la zona, como la instalacion de barreras dinamicas para la retencion de sedimentos. En este articulo se presenta una sintesis de los trabajos realizados desde dos opticas diferentes, el de la gestion del territorio, al ser la estacion de esqui uno de los motores socioeconomicos de la zona, y el cientifico, dado su interes para el estudio de la dinamica torrencial.

<p>Risk mitigation for shallow slides and debris flows at a regional scale is a challenge. Landslide early warning systems (LEWS) are a helpful tool to anticipate the time and location of possible landslide events so that the authorities in charge of managing the landslide risk can plan their actions.</p><p>Traditionally, regional LEWS rely on rainfall information to asses if the landslide triggering conditions are met. However, in many cases, soil moisture is a predisposing factor that plays a major role in landslide initiation. Therefore, accounting for soil moisture conditions could improve the performance of LEWS.</p><p>Here we present the preliminary results defining hydrometeorological thresholds for the region of Catalonia (NE Spain). Such thresholds have been derived combining rainfall information from ground-based radar observations and the volumetric water content simulated by the LISFLOOD hydrological model. The information of recent and historical landslide events contained in a landslide inventory has been used to adjust the hydrometeorological thresholds.</p><p>The new hydrometeorological thresholds have been implemented into the regional-scale LEWS for the region of Catalonia.  Finally, the performance of the two versions of the LEWS (i.e. solely based on rainfall observations and adding soil moisture conditions) has been analysed for a recent rainfall event that triggered multiple landslides.</p>

Soil moisture plays a vital role in slope stability. As water infiltrates into the soil, shear strength decreases eventually leading to failure. However, most of the existing regional-scale landslide early warning systems (LEWS) rely solely on rainfall information and use rainfall thresholds to determine if the landslide triggering conditions are met. The original version of the Catalonia region LEWS combines real-time rainfall observations and susceptibility to compute warnings. The LEWS applies a set of rainfall intensity-duration thresholds to determine if the rainfall conditions have the potential to trigger a landslide. This work explores the potential of using modelled soil moisture data in the Catalonia region LEWS. Volumetric water content (VWC) from the LISFLOOD hydrological simulations of the European Flood Awareness System and rainfall estimates have been analysed at the location of recent landslide events. Based on this data, a set of empirical hydrometeorological thresh...