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Knowledge of an oil spill's extent and its quantification are fundamental to limit damage and assess impacts. Remote sensing permits the observation of large areas in a short time, to locate and quantify the phenomenon. We present the case study of the River Lambro, where an oil spill occurred on February 23, 2010 and then flowed into the River Po. The Agenzia di Protezione Civile della Regione Emilia-Romagna quickly commissioned two aerial surveys over the polluted area, performed by Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale (OGS) with a hyperspectral sensor, AISA Eagle 1K, in order to obtain qualitative and quantitative assessment of the spilled substances and to support rapid decision-making with real-time monitoring. The method used a Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) classification to locate the pollution. Results showed a successful applicability in the production of the pollution map used for the containment phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The WARBO project will facilitate the regulation of water artificial recharge (AR) and determine how to respond to the need to safeguard, protect and enhance water and land ecosystems. The project will focus on sites with AR problems hosting ecosystems of community interest where urgent measures are needed to fight against water scarcity and to develop protocols able to specify how to manage recharge activities. The protocols concerning direct (hydrogeological, geochemical and isotopic) and indirect (geophysical and remote sensing) surveys will be finalized and applied to two main macro-areas. The first is the Friuli plain (NE Italy), with the aim of identifying the short- and long-term effects of the recharge of highly permeable aquifers in order to mitigate the lowering of piezometric levels and the degradation of the forested areas impacted by a gradual shift of the springs towards lower altitudes and to estimate the water savings that could be achieved through the reclamation and use of grey water in the ZIPR test site (San Vito al Tagliamento, Pordenone). The second is the southern Po Plain in the Copparo area (Ferrara, northern Italy) in order to assess the effectiveness and the issues connected with recharge activities in salinised aquifer inland characterized by medium-low permeability and to estimate the effectiveness of phytopurification systems and the improvement of biodiversity. The aims of the WARBO project are: the integration and updating of the CAMI-LIFE database to improve existing knowledge and to better evaluate the hydrogeological and geochemical evolution of aquifers; the updating of the conceptual model and identification of test areas; the application of innovative hydrological 3D models implementing state-ofthe- art numerical procedures to solve partial differential equations (as finite elements, mixed finite elements, finite volumes). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We designed, constructed and operated a cylindrical, scintillating fibres, tracker detector in order to measure the directional flux of cosmic ray muons underground. This instrument named Muon Ground Radiograph (MGR) was developed to study the fluctuation of the density in the soil that causes detection anisotropies in the arrival direction of cosmic ray muons observed in a tracker detector located underground. Density fluctuations may reveal hidden cavities or buried structures and can contribute to archaeological findings. The shape of the detector we used, for this purpose, is cylindrical, 14cm diameter and 224cm height, and it can be inserted into a 20cm diameter hole in the ground at a maximum depth of 30m. This paper will describe the instrument design and construction and also report some results of two observational campaigns in the town of Aquileia the Claudio and Traiano port. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We will illustrate the design, assembly and test of an innovative, compact and low-cost cosmic-ray tracking detector developed at the INFN laboratories of Trieste and Perugia (Italy), which makes use of the most recent technologies for scintillating fibres and multianode photomultiplier tubes. The detector has been designed in particular for underground investigation: it lies inside a cylinder made of aluminium and can be lowered down a 20cm diameter hole drilled into the ground, reaching a depth of 10–30m. It measures the cosmic ground penetrating muon flux as a function of the direction to obtain information about the density of the material through which the cosmic rays travel before reaching the detector itself. The whole instrumentation (that is, the detector, a computer for data acquisition and a power supply), is simple to install and easy to handle. Examples of fields in which the instrument can be useful are geology, archaeology, spelaeology. In the last few months we tested the performance of the detector in two different Italian archaeological sites (Aquileia, UD and Fiumicino, RM). The acquired data are presented in this work. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In recent years, SAR interferometry has become one of the most popular emerging techniques for the assessment of ground displacements, and, as such, it is of great interest as a possible operational tool for civil protection institutions having to deal with landslide risk. The paper presents some of the results obtained in northern Italy during a research project aimed at testing the potentiality of the application of C‐band space‐borne interferometry and Ku‐band ground based interferometry during different specific civil protection activities. Main research objectives were the detection of the movements of complex earth and rock slides affecting built‐up areas during the 1990s, and the near real‐time monitoring of a reactivated rotational earth slide over an emergency period of 15 days. Results of space‐borne interferometry did qualitatively fit with the geological interpretation of the mass movements and with ground truths such as damaged buildings and in situ monitoring systems. However, this was not achieved in quantitative terms, suggesting that this technique should be used limitedly for displacement recognition and not monitoring. On the other hand, ground‐based interferometry proved valuable both for a qualitative and a quantitative estimate of slope movements. Nonetheless, the research has also enabled the limitations that are still to be tackled in order to bring these systems to an operational usage in civil protection to be highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]