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An integrated methodology for landslides’ early warning systems

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Abstract

Early Warning Systems (EWS) are efficient tools for preventing and mitigating the risks associated to landslides occurrence. In this paper, an integrated methodology for landslides’ analysis is presented and described. Such methodology is aimed at the creation of early warning systems and is based on the integration between a modern monitoring technique, such as the Ground-Based Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (GBInSAR), along with advanced numerical modelling. The paper also shows the application of the proposed methodology to the case study of a rockslide in central Italy. The integration between monitoring data, thanks to a GBInSAR survey and advanced numerical simulations with the combined Finite-Discrete Elements Method (FDEM), allowed for the definition of a set of surface velocity thresholds to be adopted for the long-term monitoring of the landslide and for the creation of an effective EWS.

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Acknowledgments

The work described in this paper was partially funded by the Italian Ministry of Instruction, University and Research (MIUR) in the framework of the National Research Project PRIN 2009 titled “Integration of monitoring and numerical modelling techniques for early warning of large rockslides.” The project was carried out by the Department of Earth Sciences of the Università degli Studi di Firenze (National coordinator and Responsible of the Research Unit: Prof. Nicola Casagli), the Department of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering “Guglielmo Marconi” of the Università degli Studi di Bologna (Responsible of the Research Unit: Dr. Andrea Giorgetti) and the Department of Structural, Building and Geotechnical Engineering of Politecnico di Torino (Responsible of the Research Unit: Dr. Marco Barla).

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  1. Department of Structural, Geotechnical and Building Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129, Torino, Italy

    M. Barla & F. Antolini

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  1. M. Barla
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Correspondence to M. Barla.

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Barla, M., Antolini, F. An integrated methodology for landslides’ early warning systems. Landslides 13, 215–228 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-015-0563-8

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