Stefano Bechis

Eddy covariance data were collected at a station located on a slope characterised by a very common and increasing land cover in the Alpine region, that is, the abandoned pasture. Three diurnal growing season (2014, 2016 and 2017) were considered. The site is located at 1730 m asl in Cogne (Valle d’Aosta, Italy). The sensible and latent heat fluxes, as well as the carbon dioxide flux, were estimated. The in-situ fluxes and their quality were examined to assess whether an acceptable amount of good quality data was collected, and then proposing a simple step by step quality control procedure.

The Alps are very sensitive to climate and land cover changes. In the past years, a growing interest towards understanding the water and carbon exchanges in the mountains led to an increasing number of studies. However, the complexity of these environments determines many uncertainties from a methodological and ecological point of view. Therefore, there is a need to compute and compare flux data collected at different, high-altitude and complex sites. Such studies will improve the knowledge about the impact of local morphology on measurements.

Hydro-climatic risk assessments at the regional scale are of little use in the risk treatment decision-making process when they are only based on local or scientific knowledge and when they deal with a single risk at a time. Local and scientific knowledge can be combined in a multi-hazard risk assessment to contribute to sustainable rural development.