High-resolution geophysical monitoring of moisture accumulation preceding slope movement—a path to improved early warning

Watlet, Arnaud; Wilkinson, Paul; Whiteley, Jim; White, Adrian; Uhlemann, Sebastian; Swift, Russell; Ouellet, Susanne; Minto, Chris; Meldrum, Philip; Jones, Lee; Gunn, David; Godfrey, Alastair; Dashwood, Ben; Crickmore, Roger; Clarkson, Paul; Boyd, James; Chambers, Jonathan. 2024 High-resolution geophysical monitoring of moisture accumulation preceding slope movement—a path to improved early warning. Environmental Research Letters, 19 (12), 124059. 10.1088/1748-9326/ad8fbe

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad8fbe

Abstract/Summary

Slope failures are an ongoing global threat leading to significant numbers of fatalities and infrastructure damage. Landslide impact on communities can be reduced using efficient early warning systems to plan mitigation measures and protect elements at risk. This manuscript presents an innovative geophysical approach to monitoring landslide dynamics, which combines electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and low-frequency distributed acoustic sensing (DAS), and was deployed on a slope representative of many landslides in clay rich lowland slopes. ERT is used to create detailed, dynamic moisture maps that highlight zones of moisture accumulation leading to slope instability. The link between ERT derived soil moisture and the subsequent initiation of slope deformation is confirmed by low-frequency DAS measurements, which were collocated with the ERT measurements and provide changes in strain at unprecedented spatiotemporal resolution. Auxiliary hydrological and slope displacement data support the geophysical interpretation. By revealing critical zones prone to failure, this combined ERT and DAS monitoring approach sheds new light on landslide mechanisms. This study demonstrates the advantage of including subsurface geophysical monitoring techniques to improve landslide early warning approaches, and highlights the importance of relying on observations from different sources to build effective landslide risk management strategies.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1088/1748-9326/ad8fbe
ISSN:	1748-9326
Date made live:	27 Nov 2024 14:36 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/538458

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.1088/1748-9326/ad8fbe

ISSN:

1748-9326

Date made live:

27 Nov 2024 14:36 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/538458