"Landslides are among the most widespread geological hazards on Earth. Every year in Europe, landslide-related disasters result in fatalities, property losses and environmental degradation. The tremendous societal and economical impact of this hazard necessitates the need for measures to mitigate the risk. This work is primarily focused on shallow landslides and debris flows triggered by rainfall with the ultimate goal to advance early warning procedures for this type of hazards. The spatial distribution, duration, and intensity of precipitation play an important role in triggering landslides. A long history of development in radar-based precipitation estimation has culminated in sophisticated technology and techniques to produce reliable rainfall estimates at the ground. However, the radar error structure which is important at the local scale (i.e debris flow location) is still poorly known. One of the main objectives of this proposal is the development and implementation of comprehensive algorithms to improve the accuracy of radar-rainfall estimates at scales relevant to landslide studies.Another important aspect related to the link between rainfall and landslide initiation is the role of soil wetness. Past studies has generally overlooked the importance of the dynamics of soil moisture on triggering landslides and treated rainfall as the only hydrometeorological control. To advance our understanding and thus prediction of landslides we need to account for the effect of both variables. To address this issue, application of a hydrologic models will be carried out to derive information on the hydrologic state variables during landslide initiation and investigate the combined role of soil moisture and rainfall characteristics on the occurrence of landslides. Finally, a set of procedures will be developed to incorporate improved radar estimates and soil moisture information to provide warnings and assist landslide risk management in an alpine region."