First national inventory of high-elevation mass movements in the Italian Alps

Abstract

Climate change in the European Alps, in particular in the high-elevation environments, is causing an increase in mass movements and hazards. To learn more about relationships between mass movements and climate drivers, the location of the starting zone and date of the instability events need to be known. Nevertheless, not all existing inventories of mass movements are suitable for the purpose. For these reasons, we have implemented a specific inventory of mass movements which occurred in the Italian sector of the Alps at an elevation >1500 m. Currently, the inventory contains information relating to 772 mass movements. The most frequent types of processes documented are rockfall and debris/mud flows, with 279 and 191 cases respectively. The highest number of events occurred in 2022 (71 events), and an evident trend towards an increase over the years and during summer was found. This inventory is an excellent support tool for many activities that take place in and for the mountains, its consultation, both online and offline, makes the inventory suitable for use with different types of devices and can be used not only as a consultation tool on mass movements occurred in the past, but also to insert new events. This use can be particularly suitable for monitoring activities, managed by civil protection structures, municipalities, natural parks, environmental agencies, researchers, freelancers and so on.