Structurae

In context of global climate change and the continuous extension of settlement areas in the Alps, especially due to tourism, an increasing conflict can be observed between land use and natural hazard prevention. This also includes deep-seated landslides, which can cause considerable damage to settlements and infrastructure when they occur and even endanger lives.
The hazard potential of slow deep-seated landslides has often been underestimated up till now. For economic reasons, such potentially dangerous instable slopes often are only monitored sporadically if at all. The alpEWAS project ("development and testing of an integrative 3D early warning system for instable alpine slopes") is currently developing a low cost 3D monitoring and early warning system for landslides based on three innovative continuous measurement systems for underground and surface deformations: Time Domain Reflectometry, reflectorless video tacheometry and low cost global navigation satellite system. These are merged with other sensors, which monitor typical trigger mechanisms (e.g. precipitation), into a geo sensor network, providing remote online access to all data in near real time in a WebGIS environment.
The alpEWAS system has been installed at the Aggenalm Landslide for a first field test. The experiences made there will be of great importance for the medium-term goal: the development of a market-ready, flexible and economic early warning system for landslides.