FOCA: a new quality-controlled database of floods and catchment descriptors in Italy

Article source:  Earth System Science Data

The availability of comprehensive hydro-geomorphological data is crucial for various applications, yet Italy lacks complete datasets. Efforts like the HydroATLAS and CAMELS initiatives offer global and European datasets, but Italy’s coverage remains partial. Previous projects focused on specific regions, but a comprehensive national dataset is still absent. Challenges include fragmented monitoring networks and administrative complexities. Recent efforts, like the work of Claps et al., aim to address this gap by integrating hydrological, climatological, and geomorphological data for 631 catchments from 1911 to 2016, resulting in the FOCA dataset. This dataset provides essential information for hydrological analysis and flood management on a national scale, contributing to Italy’s hydrological knowledge base.