T39. Wildfires, erosion and landslides in burned areas

Steep mountain slopes affected by wildfires are prone to increase in erosional processes, shallow landslides, and rock falls compared to unburned conditions. The initiation mechanisms of these processes depend on a combination of hydrologic, geomorphic, geotechnical and meteorological factors that require complex approaches to be accurately assessed. In-situ investigations, soil testing and monitoring activities are of primary importance to understand how mass movements can activate and progress through the hillslopes. Robust sets of data are therefore necessary to implement numerical models aimed at analyzing their behavior and evolution in space and time. The likely relationship with burn severity represents a challenging task that provides a valuable chance to perform multi-disciplinary studies with experts in forest sciences and fire ecology. In the light of this, new spaceborne and UAV-based technologies are providing unprecedented supports in the analysis of both vegetation and soil conditions after wildfires.
This session encourages contributions aimed at improving the current knowledge on post-fire hydrologic and geomorphic hazards, as well as advanced methodologies to better forecast their initiation and evolution in the so-called window of disturbance. Case studies based on the integration of multi-disciplinary data or techniques are also welcome.