Towards the continuous monitoring of natural hazards from river floods and debris flows from seismic observations

California Institute Of Technology, Pasadena CA

Investigators

Abstract

River floods and debris flows can transport car- and even house-sized boulders at high velocity, making them some of the most deadly and costly natural hazards. Despite this hazard, there exist few methods for continuous monitoring or early warning of these destructive processes. One of the main issues in developing monitoring techniques is that floods and debris flows easily destroy any instruments placed in their path. This project aims to overcome this challenge by developing a methodology to measure and quantify the ground vibrations produced by water and debris flows, and thus be able to continuously monitor these hazards from a safe distance. To achieve the broader goal of developing a ground motion-based flood and debris flow monitoring framework, it is necessary to understand the mechanics through which these motions cause ground vibrations, and one specific goal of this project is to develop such a mechanistic understanding. In parallel with this model development, laboratory and field experiments are planned to test the assumptions of the theories and verify the accompanying hypotheses. This work is anticipated to result in new notions for how flows interact with their channels and allow quantitative remote monitoring to be possible.