Monitoring critically saturated conditions for shallow landslide occurrence using electrical resistivity tomography
Abstract Soil wetness is an important property in determining the variable disposition of hillslopes to shallow landslides. Recent studies have demonstrated the potential of in situ soil wetness information for landslide early warning. However, the spatial representativeness of in situ sensors may b...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2022-07-01
|
| Series: | Vadose Zone Journal |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/vzj2.20204 |
| _version_ | 1811291509652193280 |
|---|---|
| author | Adrian Wicki Christian Hauck |
| author_facet | Adrian Wicki Christian Hauck |
| author_sort | Adrian Wicki |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Soil wetness is an important property in determining the variable disposition of hillslopes to shallow landslides. Recent studies have demonstrated the potential of in situ soil wetness information for landslide early warning. However, the spatial representativeness of in situ sensors may be affected by local heterogeneities of soil properties and hydrological processes, and their installation may be destructive. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) has been used in the past to estimate plot‐scale soil moisture variation and may overcome these limitations. In this study, we installed and operated an automated ERT monitoring system on a landslide‐prone hillslope in the Napf region (Switzerland). The system was operational during a period of 9 mo, and measurements were conducted at high temporal resolution and under different soil hydrological conditions. Electrical resistivity was measured along two perpendicular profile lines in Wenner–Schlumberger configuration at 0.25‐m electrode spacing. Soil saturation was calculated by the Archie's law and the parameters were fitted with colocated soil moisture sensors. Comparison of ERT‐derived soil moisture with soil wetness from in situ sensors showed a good correlation, and infiltration properties critical for landslide early warning could be reliably reproduced. Further, analysis of spatial saturation variation revealed that ERT was capable to detect heterogeneities of soil hydrological process. Under highly saturated conditions, the reliability of the saturation estimation was affected by an increased number of faulty measurements and the spatial heterogeneity of the infiltration process. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T04:30:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-80695eb0afdd40589a995744d409a4e8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1539-1663 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T04:30:31Z |
| publishDate | 2022-07-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Vadose Zone Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-80695eb0afdd40589a995744d409a4e82022-12-22T03:02:20ZengWileyVadose Zone Journal1539-16632022-07-01214n/an/a10.1002/vzj2.20204Monitoring critically saturated conditions for shallow landslide occurrence using electrical resistivity tomographyAdrian Wicki0Christian Hauck1Swiss Federal Institute for Forest Snow and Landscape Research WSL Zürcherstrasse 111 Birmensdorf 8903 SwitzerlandDep. of Geosciences Univ. of Fribourg Chemin du Musée 4 Fribourg 1700 SwitzerlandAbstract Soil wetness is an important property in determining the variable disposition of hillslopes to shallow landslides. Recent studies have demonstrated the potential of in situ soil wetness information for landslide early warning. However, the spatial representativeness of in situ sensors may be affected by local heterogeneities of soil properties and hydrological processes, and their installation may be destructive. Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) has been used in the past to estimate plot‐scale soil moisture variation and may overcome these limitations. In this study, we installed and operated an automated ERT monitoring system on a landslide‐prone hillslope in the Napf region (Switzerland). The system was operational during a period of 9 mo, and measurements were conducted at high temporal resolution and under different soil hydrological conditions. Electrical resistivity was measured along two perpendicular profile lines in Wenner–Schlumberger configuration at 0.25‐m electrode spacing. Soil saturation was calculated by the Archie's law and the parameters were fitted with colocated soil moisture sensors. Comparison of ERT‐derived soil moisture with soil wetness from in situ sensors showed a good correlation, and infiltration properties critical for landslide early warning could be reliably reproduced. Further, analysis of spatial saturation variation revealed that ERT was capable to detect heterogeneities of soil hydrological process. Under highly saturated conditions, the reliability of the saturation estimation was affected by an increased number of faulty measurements and the spatial heterogeneity of the infiltration process.https://doi.org/10.1002/vzj2.20204 |
| spellingShingle | Adrian Wicki Christian Hauck Monitoring critically saturated conditions for shallow landslide occurrence using electrical resistivity tomography Vadose Zone Journal |
| title | Monitoring critically saturated conditions for shallow landslide occurrence using electrical resistivity tomography |
| title_full | Monitoring critically saturated conditions for shallow landslide occurrence using electrical resistivity tomography |
| title_fullStr | Monitoring critically saturated conditions for shallow landslide occurrence using electrical resistivity tomography |
| title_full_unstemmed | Monitoring critically saturated conditions for shallow landslide occurrence using electrical resistivity tomography |
| title_short | Monitoring critically saturated conditions for shallow landslide occurrence using electrical resistivity tomography |
| title_sort | monitoring critically saturated conditions for shallow landslide occurrence using electrical resistivity tomography |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/vzj2.20204 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT adrianwicki monitoringcriticallysaturatedconditionsforshallowlandslideoccurrenceusingelectricalresistivitytomography AT christianhauck monitoringcriticallysaturatedconditionsforshallowlandslideoccurrenceusingelectricalresistivitytomography |