Research

My research integrates hydrology, geomorphology, remote sensing, and data-driven modeling to advance flood hazard assessment and environmental monitoring. The objective is to develop scalable, physically-based, and computationally efficient tools for understanding hydrological processes and supporting risk management.

Research Areas

Scientific Vision

The research bridges process-based hydrology and data-driven approaches, enabling reliable flood mapping even in data-scarce and ungauged basins.

Reference

Albertini, C., A. Gioia, V. Iacobellis, G. P. Petropoulos and S. Manfreda, Assessing Multi-source Random Forest Classification and Robustness of Predictor Variables in Flooded Areas Mapping, Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment, (doi: 10.1016/j.rsase.2024.101239) 2024. [pdf]

Albertini, C., A. Gioia, V. Iacobellis, S. Manfreda, Detection of Surface Water and Floods with Multispectral Satellites. Remote Sensing, 14, 6005, (doi: 10.3390/rs14236005), 2022. [pdf]

Balestra, F.; Del Vecchio, M.; Pirone, D.; Pedone, M.A.; Spina, D.; Manfreda, S.; Menduni, G.; Bignami, D.F. Flood Susceptibility Mapping Using a Deep Neural Network Model: The Case Study of Southern Italy. Environ. Sci. Proc.2022, 21, 36. [pdf]

Albertini, C., D. Miglino, V. Iacobellis, F. De Paola, S. Manfreda, Flood-prone areas delineation in coastal regions using the Geomorphic Flood Index, Journal of Flood Risk Management, e12766, 2021. [pdf]

Albano, R., Samela, C., Crăciun, I., Manfreda, S., Adamowski, J., Sole, A., … & Ozunu, A. Large Scale Flood Risk Mapping in Data Scarce Environments: An Application for Romania. Water, 12(6), 1834, 2020. [pdf]

Tavares da Costa, R., S. Zanardo, S. Bagli, A. G. J. Hilberts, S. Manfreda, C. Samela, and A. Castellarin, Predictive modelling of envelope flood extents using geomorphic and climatic-hydrologic catchment characteristics, Water Resources Research, 2020. [pdf]

Tavares da Costa, R., S. Manfreda, V. Luzzi,  C. Samela, P. Mazzoli, A. Castellarin, S. Bagli, A web application for hydrogeomorphic flood hazard mapping, Environmental Modelling and Software, 2019.  [pdf]

Manfreda, S., C. Samela, A DEM-based method for a rapid estimation of flood inundation depth, Journal of Flood Risk Management, 12 (Suppl. 1):e12541, (doi: 10.1111/jfr3.12541) 2019. [pdf]

Manfreda S., C. Samela, A. Refice, V. Tramutoli, F. Nardi, Advances in Large Scale Flood Monitoring and Detection, Hydrology, 5, 49, 2018. [pdf]

Samela, C., R. Albano, A. Sole, S. Manfreda, A GIS tool for cost-effective delineation of flood-prone areas, Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 70, 43-52, 2018.  [pdf]

Samela, C., T.J. Troy, S. Manfreda, Geomorphic classifiers for flood-prone areas delineation for data-scarce environments, Advances in Water Resources,  102, 13-28, 2017. [pdf]

Samela C., S. Manfreda, T. J. Troy, 100-year geomorphic flood-prone areas for the continental U.S., Data in Brief, 12, 203-207, 2017. [pdf]

D’Addabbo, A., A. Refice, G. Pasquariello, F. Lovergine, D. Capolongo and S. Manfreda, A Bayesian Network for Flood Detection Combining SAR Imagery and Ancillary Data, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, 54(6), 3612 -3625, 2016.  [pdf]

Samela, C., S. Manfreda, F. De Paola, M. Giugni, A. Sole, M. Fiorentino, DEM-based approaches for the delineation of flood prone areas in an ungauged basin in Africa, Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 21(2), 2016.  [pdf] 

Manfreda, S., C. Samela, A. Gioia, G. Consoli, V. Iacobellis, L. Giuzio, A. Cantisani, A. Sole, Flood-Prone Areas Assessment Using Linear Binary Classifiers based on flood maps obtained from 1D and 2D hydraulic models, Natural Hazards, 79 (2), 735-754, 2015. [pdf]

Manfreda, S., F. Nardi, C. Samela, S. Grimaldi, A. C. Taramasso, G. Roth and A. Sole, Investigation on the Use of Geomorphic Approaches for the Delineation of Flood Prone Areas, Journal of Hydrology, 517, 863-876, 2014. [pdf]

Manfreda, S. and Sole, A. Closure to “Detection of Flood-Prone Areas Using Digital Elevation Models” by Salvatore Manfreda, Margherita Di Leo, and Aurelia Sole. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 18(3), 362-365, 2013.  [pdf]

Manfreda, S., M. Di Leo, A. Sole, Detection of Flood Prone Areas using Digital Elevation Models, Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 16(10), 781-790, 2011.  [pdf]

In this section

Part of the HydroLAB research programme.

Attachments

About the author

He is Full Professor of Hydrology and Hydraulic Constructions at the University of Naples Federico II. He is currently chair of the IAHS MOXXI working group. His research primarily centers on hydrological modeling and monitoring. Recognizing the challenges posed by the complexity and limitations of traditional hydrological observations, he actively explores advanced and alternative monitoring techniques, such as the utilization of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) coupled with image processing.