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Risk management and flood protection are frequently assessed through geo-morphometric evaluations resulting by floods events. If we aim at elevation models with high resolutions and covering large areas, airborne LiDAR surveys can represent a good compromise among costs, time and uncertainty. The major limitation of the nonbathymetric LiDAR surveys consists in the detection of wet areas. Indeed, accounting for more than 20 cm of water depth, LiDAR signal increases exponentially its error. In this paper we present a comparison of the results concerning the application of a colour bathymetry methodology for the production of hybrid DTMs (HDTM). These elevation models were derived by merging LiDAR data for the dry areas and colour bathymetry for the wet areas. The methodological approach consists in a statistical regression between water depth and RGB band intensity values from contemporary aerial images. This methodology includes the use of filters in order to reduce possible errors due to the application of the model, to estimate precise “in-channel” points. The study areas are three different human impacted gravel-bed rivers of the North-East of Italy. This methodology has been applied in three sub-reaches of Brenta River, two of Piave River and two of Tagliamento River before and after relevant flood events with recurrence interval 􀀐 10 years. Potentials and limitations of the applied bathymetric method, the comparison of its use in different fluvial contexts and its possibility of employment for geo-morphometric evaluations, were then tested. DGPS control points (1841, 2638, 10473 respectively for Brenta, Piave and Tagliamento River) were finally used to evaluate the accuracy of wet areas. Results showed that, in each model, wet areas vertical errors were comparable to those featured by LiDAR data for the dry areas.

The evaluation of the morphological quality of rivers is essential to define the level of alteration and for implementing future management strategies that consider also hazards related to fluvial processes and channel dynamics. This type of evaluation is particularly significant for the Italian rivers, that, as in many other European countries, have a very high level of human pressure. Recently, in Italy, the National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research has promoted a methodology named IDRAIM for hydromorphological analysis of streams that pursues an integrated approach aimed at a harmonized implementation of both the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD, 2000/60/EC), and the EU Floods Directive (2007/60/EC). In this paper we present the application of the Morphological Quality Index (MQI) protocol, which is part of IDRAIM, to determine the assessment of the morphological quality of the Cordevole River. The water network (only collectors greater than thirdorder were considered), has been divided, through GIS software, into 132 river reaches of homogeneous morphological characteristics, according to the first phase of the method. At this stage the semi-automatic calculation of lateral confinement (defined by “degree of confinement” and a “confinement index”) was tried, in order to reduce the implementing time. The application of 28 indicators was made for 42 reaches representing the major river types and human pressures in the site investigation. The results showed that 48% of the analyzed reaches have a very good or good quality status, 38% have a moderate morphological quality, while only 14% have the characteristics of poor or very poor quality. The main causes that lead to a strong alteration of the terms of reference are linked to i) poor connectivity between hillslopes and river corridor, that is very important for the natural supply of sediment and large wood; ii) absence of vegetation in the river corridor, that is functional to a range of geomorphic processes; iii) presence of artificial elements, particularly the bedload interception structures in the catchment, bank protection along the reach, and the removal of sediment, large wood and vegetation.