Interpreting recent landslide events in Campania Region (Southern Italy) by using innovative approaches

The study is aimed at verifying the reliability of the ERA5 reanalysis in reproducing histories of soil water fluxes exchanges (in terms of precipitation and evapotranspiration) leading to landslide events that actually occurred in Campania Region (Southern Italy). In the specific, the investigation deals with landslide events affecting pyroclastic covers result of repeated eruptions of Vesuvius and Campi Flegrei over the course of millennia. Indeed, for many events occurred in the last years, it is hard to retrieve continuous and reliable atmospheric data provided by weather stations in the vicinity of the affected slopes. Under such constraints, it could be difficult to identify the weather patterns triggering the events and then how they could vary in a climate change perspective. To deal with these issues, the fifth generation of atmospheric reanalysis made available by European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) can represent a valuable support. ERA5 and its downscaling ERA5land return hourly data with an horizontal resolution of respectively 31km and 9 km over the entire globe. The data are available since Fifties and they are continuously updated with a delay of only 5 days for ERA5 and few months for ERA5land. Well-documented test cases over Campania Region for which long datasets of atmospheric data and details about the landslide events are available, are exploited to assess the capabilities of ERA5 reanalysis in reproducing antecedent and triggering soil water fluxes exchanges histories. Then, strengths and potential gaps are identified and thoroughly explained to permit a reliable adoption of the datasets.