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L’algoritmo Landmark per l’analisi

morfometrica della superficie terrestre:
uno strumento di base che apre nuove

prospettive nella convivenza con il rischio

alluvionale

The Landmark algorithm for morphometric analysis of the earth’s surface: a basic tool that
opens up new perspectives in dealing with flood risk

Hydrogeological instability, a term that indicates the combination of adverse effects of hydrology and surface
instabilities, sees almost 94% of municipalities in Italy at risk of landslides, flooding and coastal erosion. The
Italian territory, due to its morphological and hydrological characteristics, is naturally exposed to the risk of
floods and landslides. In addition, water scarcity compared to demand frequently causes drought problems
that have major impacts not only on human activities, but also on structures, e.g. in relation to subsidence
phenomena. However, the number of natural disasters can be controlled through monitoring, understand-
ing the phenomena and implementing structural and non-structural prevention and protection measures. In
addition to natural features, there are other anthropogenic factors, such as demographic changes, land-
use changes, and climate change. This contributes to further changes such as the one highlighted by the
UNIMORE Hydrologic Research Group, led by Prof. Stefano Orlandini, regarding the action on riverbanks of
fearsome fossorial mammals, such as porcupines and badgers, which with their incessant work of penetrat-
ing riverbanks cause unexpected bioerosion and riverbank collapse. The UNIMORE Hydrologic Research
Group is an international excellence working in the field of understanding hydrological processes to mitigate
the adverse effects of floods and droughts on society, has revealed for the first time internationally the
impact of fossil mammals on the hydraulic safety of land. Recently, the research group has developed an
algorithm called Landmark that automatically identifies essential topographic features observed in high-res-
olution digital terrain models and preserves them in the partitioning of the earth's surface necessary
for the description of surface processes. The methods developed provide new paradigms for scientists and
engineers to incorporate the detail into models for describing surface geophysical processes. Although an
embankment looks like a “pile of dirt” and can be arranged in a simple manner, its mechanics are actually
very complex and must be studied in a technically rigorous manner.

l cosiddetto dissesto idrogeologico, La superficie nazionale, potenzialmente sog-
termine introdotto dal noto geologo Ar- getta a frane e alluvioni, è aumentata nel 2021:

dito Desio per indicare la combinazione frane +4% e alluvioni +19% rispetto al 2017(dati
di effetti avversi dell’idrologia e delle in- ISPRA2022). Quasi il 94% dei comuni italiani è a
Istabilità superficiali, vede in Italia quasi rischio dissesto e soggetto ad erosione costiera
il 94% dei comuni a rischio frane, alluvioni e oltre 8 milioni di persone abitano in aree
ed erosione costiera. ad alta pericolosità. La gravità della situazione
la si può meglio interpretare con i numeri forni-

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