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We studied the Gioia Sannitica active normal fault (GF) along the southern Matese fault (SMF) system in the southern Apennines of Italy in detail. The current activity of the fault system and its potential to produce strong earthquakes have been underestimated so far and are now defined here. Precise mapping of the GF fault trace on a 1:20 000 geological map and point and line data on the geometry, kinematics, and slip rate of the faults forming the SMF system are made available in electronic format. The GF, and the entire fault system along the southern Matese mountain front in general, is made of slowly slipping faults with a long active history revealed by the large geologic offsets, mature geomorphology, and complex fault patterns and kinematics. Present activity has resulted in late Quaternary fault scarps resurrecting the foot of the mountain front and Holocene surface faulting. The resurrected mountain front indicates variation in slip rate through time. The slip rate varies along-strike, with a maximum Upper Pleistocene–Holocene slip rate of ∼ 0.5 mm yr−1. Activation of the 11.5 km long GF can produce up to M 6.2 earthquakes. If activated together with the 18.5 km long Ailano–Piedimonte Matese fault (APMF), the seismogenic potential would be M 6.8. The slip history of the two faults is compatible with a contemporaneous rupture. The observed Holocene displacements on the GF and APMF are compatible with activations during some poorly constrained historical earthquakes, such as the 1293 (M 5.8), 1349 (M 6.8; possibly a southern prolongation of the rupture on the Aquae Iuliae fault), and 346 CE earthquakes. A fault rupture during the poorly constrained 847 CE earthquake is also chronologically compatible with the dated displacements.

Destructive marine storms bring large waves and unusually high surges of water to coastal areas, resulting in significant damages and economic loss. This study analyses the characteristics of a destructive marine storm on the strongly inhabited coastal area of Gulf of Naples, along the Italian coasts of the Tyrrhenian Sea. This is highly vulnerable to marine storms due to the accelerated relative sea level rise trend and the increased anthropogenic impact on the coastal area. The marine storm, which occurred on 28 December 2020, was analyzed through an unstructured wind–wave coupled model that takes into account the main marine weather components of the coastal setup. The model, validated with in situ data, allowed the establishment of threshold values for the most significant marine and atmospheric parameters (i.e., wind intensity and duration) beyond which an event can produce destructive effects. Finally, a first assessment of the return period of this event was evaluated using local press reports on damage to urban furniture and port infrastructures.

The prediction of the formation, spacing and location of rip currents is a scientific challenge that can be achieved by means of different complementary methods. In this paper the analysis of numerical and experimental data, including RPAS (remotely piloted aircraft systems) observations, allowed us to detect the presence of rip currents and rip channels at the mouth of Sele River, in the Gulf of Salerno, southern Italy. The dataset used to analyze these phenomena consisted of two different bathymetric surveys, a detailed sediment analysis and a set of high-resolution wave numerical simulations, completed with Google EarthTM images and RPAS observations. The grain size trend analysis and the numerical simulations allowed us to identify the rip current occurrence, forced by topographically constrained channels incised on the seabed, which were compared with observations.

"Buy to protect": this may be the Conservatoire du Littoral philosophy. Since 1975, this unique public French institution endeavours to acquire vulnerable and threatened coastal areas of great natural relevance to ensure their permanent and sound management/protection by establishing conventions with local authorities. This paper is focused on (i) the research of remarkable attractive natural sites not (or only slightly) affected by human intrusions, (ii) the analysis of the Conservatoire policies related to landscape issues and (iii) the proposal of judicious measures to assess/maintain/enhance/monitor landscape quality. For such proposals, the Coastal Scenic Evaluation System (CSES) method was in situ applied along the northern French coast, from Belgium to the Seine estuary. This area, shaped in a macrotidal environment, was chosen as it exhibits a wide variety of scenery composed of majestic dunes complexes, estuaries, bays and impressive cliff formations, alongside a strong cultural heritage. It also includes some world-renowned sites such as Les Deux Caps (Gris-Nez and Blanc-Nez), the Somme Bay and the cliffs of Étretat. CSES is a strong accurate indicator of scenic quality based on 26 physical and human parameters, and fuzzy-logic mathematics to overcome subjectivity and quantify uncertainties. As a result, an Evaluation Index (D) is obtained, enabling to classify sites into five distinct classes, from Class I (outstanding quality) to Class V (very poor quality). In this paper, 16 sectors respectively located along the Côte d'Opale (8), Côte Picarde (4) and Côte d'Albâtre (4) were selected after a long process of field testing. Seven were included in Class I, five in Class II and four in Class III. Finally, suggestions were made to complete the remarkable labour done by the Conservatoire. • This paper is focused on the assessment of very attractive natural coastal sites. • Sixteen sites were field-tested by using the Coastal Scenic Evaluation System. • Seven sites were included in Class I, five in Class II and four in Class III. • Emphasis was given to the Conservatoire du Littoral management approach. • Suggestions were made to complete the remarkable labour done by the Conservatoire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beach litter monitoring programs play a key role in establishing effective management measures to preserve the ecological, scenic, and economic value of the coastal areas. In this study, an innovative analysis system is proposed for the automatic identification of beach debris (>2.5 cm) on aerial-photogrammetric images acquired by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) at different elevations. The workflow is based on a Convolutional Neural Network model designed for object segmentation and object recognition, and here used for instance segmentation tasks. Test cases were conducted along the Adriatic sector of the Apulia region (Italy), where the beaches have a remarkable economic importance, attracting national and international tourists, and ecological values, hosting species of high ecological value and protected areas. The results of the tests carried out in this study allowed defining 10 m as the desirable drone flight above ground. In addition, encouraging results have been obtained on the instance segmentation step, experimenting on real, synthetic and mixed data, produced by using a high-resolution blending technique. A beach litter density of 0.38 items m−2 (on 0.66 items m−2), an F-score of 0.96 and a mAP of 0.67 has been achieved on real data. A novel metric for comparing works at the state-of-the-art (SOTA) in beach litter monitoring is also introduced, named "density-normalized F-score". The proposed methodology represents a benchmark for the definition of a standardize procedure for the indirect evaluation and monitoring of the coastal environmental status. Besides allowing the investigation of large areas with limited human effort, the proposed system enables the evaluation of the beach litter spatial distribution and magnitude, providing useful information for the assessment of tailored beach quality indices. • Multidisciplinary framework for the indirect identification of beach litter items. • Setting of a desirable 10 m height threshold for UAV surveys. • Use of a Convolutional Neural Network for litter instance segmentation. • Data augmentation with high-resolution blending. • Introduction of a density-normalized F-score. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper illustrates an index-based coastal risk assessment that was performed on a micro-tidal alluvial plain taking into account the relative sea level rise (RSLR) for the evaluation of coastal vulnerability and exposure. This process took into account both the inundation of inshore land and the beach retreat due to storm surge, calculated on the basis of geomorphological data (bathymetry, sedimentology and beach width) and wave climate. The evaluation process was conceived with reference to a low and high hazard, associated with a wave storm with 1 year and 50 years return period. For the latter case, the response to RSLR was calculated taking into account both isostatic response and ice cap melting due to global warming, while the vertical land movement was assessed taking into account the different its rates in the northern and southern coastal area. The exposure and the damage of the coastal assets were evaluated with a simplified conceptual framework, which uses land cover data and a statistical population dataset. The risk assessment procedure was applied to Sele coastal plain, which involves numerous properties and important infrastructures, and is strongly susceptible to marine inundations. A sensitivity analysis of the vulnerability and the risk relative to different hazards and to RSLR was performed. Moreover, the final risk assessment classification was validated with a conceptual framework based on the observed damage ranking related to the tested coastal area. The obtained results showed that the northern high density urban areas were characterized by the highest risk, followed by some central areas with strong localized erosive focus. On the contrary, the southern zones, with wider beaches and almost intact dunes, were characterized by the lowest risk level. The results of this study were used for the development of a coastal protection project which, in fact, provided a different scheme for the coastline northwards and southwards of the Sele river mouth, according to the different risk ranking established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present the results of a climatic analysis based on 30-year (1971-2000) averages of precipitation and air temperature monthly data from 115 air temperature and precipitation stations of the National Meteorological Office and National Hydraulic Resources Institute of the Dominican Republic. The performed analysis provides a synthesis of the climate of the Dominican Republic, consistent with its orography and the atmospheric dynamics typical for the Caribbean region. According to the analysis, 54% of the Dominican territory can be classified as dry or semi-dry, and hence quite vulnerable to extensive or intensive land use practices, especially if inappropriate, with important implications in terms of water supplies, both for human consumption and for crop irrigation. This highlights the need to adopt appropriate policies to reduce vulnerability to climate change which, according to predictions, will lead to an increase in aridity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a methodological approach for the determination of the vulnerability of coastal archaeological sites to marine and aeolian processes, e.g. wave erosion, temporary flooding, wind erosion, etc. The methodology allows defining different degree of vulnerability, taking into account both the potential impacts of the physical processes and the architectural characteristics of the investigated archaeological structures. The method is based on the application of specific vulnerability matrices, accurately defined for each coastal zone (i.e. the backshore, foreshore, nearshore and offshore) where archaeological sites are actually located. Results allow identifying the vulnerability level of each specific site and the index therefore represents an operative tool for the definition of most suitable management actions for the protection and conservation of the archaeological heritage. In order to provide a first application of the proposed methodology, all coastal archaeological sites located in the Gulf of Naples (Southern Italy) have been investigated. The results are presented as a vulnerability map and highlight as seven archaeological sites present a high vulnerability level, four of which are located in two submerged archaeological parks (Underwater Archaeological parks of Baia and Gaiola). The other three sites (Terma Ginnasio, Pezzolo and Tiberio villas, 1st century BC) have no legal protection and therefore they require priority monitoring programs and preservation actions. • The vulnerability of archaeological sites to coastal processes was evaluated. • Marine and aeolian processes acting in each coastal zone were considered. • A set of vulnerability matrices was proposed for each coastal environment. • A management strategy for the archaeological sites in the Gulf of Naples (Italy) was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]