Multi-Scale Assessment of Land Subsidence Risk in Major Urban Areas of Italy Using Satellite Insar, Hydrogeological and Climate Data

A multi-scale methodology is designed to assess the baseline and future land subsidence risk scenarios in major urban areas of Italy. Ground deformation observations from multi-temporal satellite Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), hydrogeological, topographic and land use datasets are embedded into an innovative risk assessment workflow, and processed with advanced geostatistics to identify the main subsidence hotspots and drivers. Future subsidence risk is assessed accounting for various climate change scenarios, demographic and urban development. The results for the 15 metropolitan cities of Italy, and Emilia Romagna region showcase the potential of the developed methodology and its benefits to inform water resource management and decision making, towards sustainable use of groundwater resources and urban development.