Of more than 400 filled lakes now identified on Titan,the first and largest reported in the southern latitudes isOntario Lacus, which is dark in both infrared andmicrowave. Here we describe recent observations includingsynthetic aperture radar (SAR) images by Cassini's radarinstrument (l = 2 cm) and show morphological evidencefor active material transport and erosion. Ontario Lacuslies in a shallow depression, with greater relief on thesouthwestern shore and a gently sloping, possibly wavegeneratedbeach to the northeast. The lake has a closedinternal drainage system fed by Earth-like rivers, deltasand alluvial fans. Evidence for active shoreline processes,including the wave-modified lakefront and deltaicdeposition, indicates that Ontario is a dynamic featureundergoing typical terrestrial forms of littoral modification.

The Mar Piccolo basin is an internal sea basin located along the Ionian coast (Southern Italy), and it is surrounded primarily by fractured carbonate karstic environment. Because of the karstic features, the main continental water inflow is from groundwater discharge. The Mar Piccolo basin represents a peculiar and sensitive environment and a social emergency because of sea water and sediments pollution. This pollution appears to be caused by the overlapping effects of dangerous anthropogenic activities, including heavy industries and commercial and navy dockyards. The paper aims to define the contribution of subaerial and submarine coastal springs to the hydrological dynamic equilibrium of this internal sea basin. A general approach was defined, including a hydrogeological basin border assessment to detect inflowing springs, detailed geological and hydrogeological conceptualisation, in situ submarine and subaerial spring measurements, and flow numerical modelling. Multiple sources of data were obtained to define a relevant geodatabase, and it contained information on approximately 2,000 wells, located in the study area (1,600 km2). The conceptualisation of the hydrogeological basin, which is 978 km2 wide, was supported by a 3D geological model that interpolated 716 stratigraphic logs. The variability in hydraulic conductivity was determined using hundreds of pumping tests. Five surveys were performed to acquire hydro-geochemical data and spring flow-yield measurements; the isotope groundwater age was assessed and used for model validation. The mean annual volume exchanged by the hydrogeological basin was assessed equal to 106.93 106 m3. The numerical modelling permitted an assessment of the mean monthly yield of each spring outflow (surveyed or not), travel time, and main path flow.

The Mar Piccolo (literally "small sea"), a sea internal basin which is part of the Taranto Gulf, located along theIonian coast in Southern Italy (Apulia region), represents a peculiar and sensitive environmental area and a social emergency due to the pollution of sea water and sediments due to the effect of the neat industrial area of Taranto. Thepaper describes the methodological approach to define the conceptualisation of the hydrogeological basin of main subaerial and submarine coastal springs of the Mar Piccolo. The geochemical discussion concerning spring groundwater was finalised to define the effect of seawater intrusion. These waters are characterised by high values of electrical conductivity and high concentrations of alkaline ions (Na+ and K+) and chloride ion and show typical chemical characteristics of fresh groundwater contaminated by seawater intrusion. The groundwater composition of the subaerial springs of Mar Piccolo is controlled by the combined effects of calcite dissolution and ion exchange. A basicmodel of the coastal aquifer was realised with the purpose to assess the mean annual and monthly value of spring outflows in Mar Piccolo. The computer codes selected for numerical groundwater modelling were MODFLOW and SEAWAT. The active domain of the model was about 978 km2 with a total number of 391200 cells. The researchpursues the knowledge of the hydrological balance of the internal sea, the geochemistry of groundwater, and the groundwater discharge effect on the ecological equilibrium of the coastal environment in the framework of a wide Italian research program called RITMARE.

Widespread longitudinal dunes have been identified on Titan thanks to the 2.2-cm wavelength Cassini Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instrument. Understanding the properties of these surface features, such as material composition and dune height, is very important for giving new clues about the Titan geology and climate. One of the major difficulties in the estimation of dune heights using SAR occurs when the material composition of the dunes is heterogeneous. In this paper, we propose a novel method for dune height estimation, which takes into account material heterogeneity, and in particular, the case in which the interdune exhibits different dielectric properties with respect to the remaining part of the dune. Paired data acquisitions with orthogonal observations are considered for separating the dielectric from the geometric effect on the backscattering coefficients in order to retrieve the slope and thus the height of the dunes. The results for a test area located in the Fensal region indicate that the slopes of the dune faces are generally lower than 5° and the heights range between 40 and 110 m.

We investigate the instability of slopes in a 15.6 km2 catchment area in the Southern Apennine mountains(Italy) traversed by a mid-slope road and characterized by predominance of clay-rich flysch units. High resolutionmultispectral satellite imagery is used to identify active landslides, to investigate their close associationwith seasonally wet zones (areas covered by free surface-water including ponds, migrating surfacewater,seeps), as well as to guide subsurface hydrogeological investigations. By combining the remotelysensed surface information and the extensive subsurface dataset from over 40 monitoring piezometer boreholeswe demonstrate that many wet zones initially mapped from the IKONOS imagery are indicative of siteswith seasonally persistent very high groundwater levels within landslide-prone slopes and on intermittentlyactive landslides. Where such surface-subsurface water linkage can be established, the appearance of the wetzones (fully saturated ground/soil) resulting from groundwater discharge or seepage can be used as a forewarningsignal of the increased susceptibility to landsliding, since the hillslopes with shallow groundwatertables are generally more prone to failure. The information about changing surface-water conditions retrievedfrom high resolution satellite data timely acquired during rainy seasons can thus provide crucialinput for temporal and spatial landslide hazard assessments. We anticipate that in the near future highresolution optical space-borne remote sensing will become a commonly used tool for monitoring landslideactivity and for providing temporal series of spatial data necessary to improve our understanding of causativeand triggering processes leading to slope failures.

The historical variations in landslide activity are investigated in the Rocchetta S. Antonioterritory, where sown fields cover 75% of the total area. The perception of the inhabitants is thatlandsliding has increased in recent years, and climate change has been invoked as a case. However,since 1865 annual precipitation has decreased c. 8% per century in southeastern Italy and local rainfalldata for the 1955-2008 period show high inter-annual variability with statistically uncertain trends. In thesame decades human alterations to the local environment were considerable. To demonstrate theimpacts of land-use changes, detailed landslide and land-use maps spanning the 1976-2006 periodhave been constructed and the spatial-temporal changes in the context of the local precipitationpatterns have been analysed. It is shown that the frequency of landsliding in 2006 was 160% higherthan in 1976, even though both years were comparably wet. The sown fields increased by 46% from1976 to 2006, and the landslide density was 55% higher on the new sown fields; that is, those cultivatedafter 1976. Thus, the higher susceptibility to landsliding is linked to the land-use changes and especiallyto the new ploughing for EU-sponsored wheat cultivation that has taken place on the steeper slopes.

The T126 Cassini's final flyby of Titan has offered a unique opportunity to observe an area in the Northern Polar terrain, where several small - medium size (10 - 50 km) hydrocarbons lakes are present and have been previously imaged by Cassini. The successful observation allowed the radar to operate at the closest approach over several small lakes, using its altimetry mode for the investigation of depth and liquid composition. Herein we present the result of a dedicate processing previously applied to altimetric data acquired over Ligeia Mare where the radar revealed the bathymetry and composition of the sea [1,2]. We show that, the optimal geometry condition met during the T126 fly-by allowed the radar to probe Titan's lakes revealing that such small liquid bodies can exceed one-hundred meters of depth.

We investigate a 15.6 km2 landslide-prone catchment in the Apennine Mountains (southern Italy). The catchment is traversed by an 11 km long mid-slope road, which has been damaged by a large number of predominantly shallow landslides. Laboratory tests showed that slope materials, derived predominantly from clay-rich flysch units, have poor geotechnical properties (effective residual friction median values around 11°, effective residual cohesion close to zero). Slope stability analyses were first conducted of representative failed slopes traversed by the road, and for which geotechnical parameters were directly available from the laboratory tests. Site-specific slope stability modelling was carried out following a limit equilibrium method for the determination of a factor of safety. Parametric analysis revealed that the stability of slopes is critically dependent on the groundwater conditions. This is consistent with recurrent episodes of landslide reactivation during particularly wet seasons characterized by periods of high groundwater levels, as documented by in situ monitoring. The evaluation of the site-specific models has enabled extending the slope stability analysis to the full hillslope and wider catchment scales. This was done by exploiting PESERA-L, a freeware software developed to assist in shallow landslide hazard assessment in watersheds. The produced landslide probability maps, fine-tuned and tested using, respectively, the 2006 and 2011 landslide inventories, improve our understanding of differences in susceptibility to slope failure throughout the catchment.

The Mar Piccolo (literally "narrow sea"), a sea internal basin which is part of the Taranto Gulf, located along the Ionian coast in southern Italy (Apulia region), represents both a peculiar and sensitive environmental area and a national environmental and social emergency due to the level of sea water pollution due to the pollutants coming from the close industrial area of Taranto.The area, located between the southern part of the Murgia plateau and the Ionian sea, is geologically characterized by a sequence of Mesozoic limestone (the Apulian carbonate platform) constituting the foreland of the southern Apennines chain. The Mesozoic sequence is intensely fissured and karstified, and forms an important groundwater reservoir.The aquifer occurring in the carbonate sequence of the Murgia plateau feeds numerous coastal springs and constitute the main local source of pure fresh groundwater. Galeso, Battentieri and Riso are the main subaerial springs located along the coast of Mar Piccolo, not far from the town of Taranto. This area is also characterized by several submarine springs, locally called "Citri".Submarine freshwater discharge plays an important, though not well quantified, role in the hydrogeological equilibrium of the system, but also the source of the spreading of many pollutants in the Mar Piccolo area due to the close presence of one of the largest European steel mill together a number of hazardous industrial activities of other types.The paper describes the efforts and the preliminary results to define a detailed conceptualisation of the aquifer as main support to characterise the hydrological balance of the internal sea and the quality of sea water and the effect on of the ecological equilibrium of the coastal environment.