Advances on Measuring Deep-Seated Ground Deformations Using Robotized Inclinometer System.

In the field of geo-hazards and geo-engineering, monitoring networks represent a key element for the geological risk assessment and the design and management of large infrastructures construction. In the last decade, we have observed a strong development on remote sensing techniques but just small changes in the subsoil observations. However, this type of measurement is very important to have a three-dimensional representation of the studied area, since the surface measurements often represent a sum of deformations that develop in a complex way in the subsoil. In this paper, we present a robotic inclinometer system developed to acquire deep-seated ground deformations in boreholes. This instrumentation combines advantages offered by manual inclinometer measurements with a robotized approach that improves the results in term of accuracy, revisiting time, and site accessibility. The Automated Inclinometer System (AIS) allows one to explore automatically all the length of the monitored borehole using just one inclinometer probe with a semi-wireless system. The paper presents the system and a detailed dataset of measurements acquired on three inclinometer tubes installed for the monitoring of the construction phase of the new Line C Metro of Rome. The dataset was acquired in real monitored site and undisturbed conditions and can represent a benchmark for modern inclinometer measurements.

A Low-Cost Optical Remote Sensing Application for Glacier Deformation Monitoring in an Alpine Environment.

In this work, we present the results of a low-cost optical monitoring station designed for monitoring the kinematics of glaciers in an Alpine environment. We developed a complete hardware/software data acquisition and processing chain that automatically acquires, stores and co-registers images. The system was installed in September 2013 to monitor the evolution of the Planpincieux glacier, within the open-air laboratory of the Grandes Jorasses, Mont Blanc massif (NW Italy), and collected data with an hourly frequency. The acquisition equipment consists of a high-resolution DSLR camera operating in the visible band. The data are processed with a Pixel Offset algorithm based on normalized cross-correlation, to estimate the deformation of the observed glacier. We propose a method for the pixel-to-metric conversion and present the results of the projection on the mean slope of the glacier. The method performances are compared with measurements obtained by GB-SAR, and exhibit good agreement. The system provides good support for the analysis of the glacier evolution and allows the creation of daily displacement maps.

ADVICE: a new approach for near-real-time monitoring of surface displacements in landslide hazard scenarios.

We present a new method for near-real-time monitoring of surface displacements due to landslide phenomena, namely ADVanced dIsplaCement monitoring system for Early warning (ADVICE). The procedure includes: (i) data acquisition and transfer protocols; (ii) data collection, filtering, and validation; (iii) data analysis and restitution through a set of dedicated software; (iv) recognition of displacement/velocity threshold, early warning messages via SMS and/or emails; (v) automatic publication of the results on a dedicated webpage. We show how the system evolved and the results obtained by applying ADVICE over three years into a real early warning scenario relevant to a large earthflow located in southern Italy. ADVICE has speed-up and facilitated the understanding of the landslide phenomenon, the communication of the monitoring results to the partners, and consequently the decision-making process in a critical scenario. Our work might have potential applications not only for landslide monitoring but also in other contexts, as monitoring of other geohazards and of complex infrastructures, as open-pit mines, buildings, dams, etc.