Sabato 1 aprile due escursionisti sono stati travolti da una valanga in Val d’Aosta. Uno di loro era Velio Coviello un ricercatore del CNR-IRPI di Padova che nell’ultimo anno aveva frequentato assiduamente l’ISAC di Roma dove aveva iniziato a collaborare con alcuni ricercatori per l’utilizzo di tecniche sismiche per la misura e il monitoraggio della precipitazione al suolo.  

Forest - Papua Nuova Guinea, credits: Rocky Roe & UPNG Remote Sensing Centre

The results of a study published in Global Change Biology - coordinated by the Technical University of Munich (TUM; Germany) in collaboration with CNR-ISAC - indicate that possibly forests favor the transport of humidity from the sea to the mainland, when the atmosphere is humid. Conversely, when the atmosphere is drier, plant transpiration would reduce the transport of humid sea air masses, thus limiting rainfall.

A CNR-ISAC study recently published on Eos offers a more complete view of the distribution of hail in the Mediterranean, highlighting how Italy is the country most exposed to hailstorms of greater intensity. The study also led to the development of the first high-resolution global map of hail events.