Localization of seismic events produced by avalanches using multiple signal classification

Heck, Matthias; Hobiger, Manuel; Herwijnen, Alec van; Schweizer, Jürg; Fäh, Donat

doi:10.1093/gji/ggy394

Cited by 19 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Avalanches in shadows are mostly visible but harder to map exactly than avalanches in well illuminated areas. 30 Using parts of the imagery from the first rapid mapping study we found some avalanches to be visible even 18 days after they were first captured on an image. This was a surprising finding and is important as it proves that the largest and therefore most interesting avalanches are visible for quite a long time though with decreasing accuracy of the outline.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The authors thank the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN and the canton Valais for partially 30 funding the satellite data. We also thank the cantons Valais, Graubünden, Bern, Obwalden and Uri as well as Liechtenstein for partially funding the data analysis.…”

Section: Acknowledgmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Avalanche detection systems based on time-laps photography (van Herwijnen and Heierli, 2009), infrasound (Thüring et al, 2015), seismic signals (van Herwijnen et al, 2016;Heck et al, 2019) or 25 radars and optical cameras (Meier et al, 2018) provide information on a local scale. Avalanche radar systems are already operationally applied to automatically close roads and railways in Switzerland.…”

Section: Introduction 30mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Depending on the system setup, an indication of avalanche size could be derived as well but is not standard information. 30 Remote sensing can provide spatially continuous information on avalanche occurrences over large regions including areas where no observers can acquire data. Optical data from airplanes and satellites with very high spatial resolution (0.1 -0.5 m) was successfully applied to automatically map avalanche debris under cloud free conditions (Bühler et al, 2009;Lato et al, 2012;Eckerstorfer et al, 2016;Korzeniowska et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introduction 30mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Where are the avalanches? Rapid mapping of a large snow avalanche period with optical satellites

Bühler¹,

Hafner²,

Zweifel³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Accurate and timely information on avalanche occurrence are key for avalanche warning, crisis 10 management and avalanche documentation. Today such information is mainly available at isolated locations provided by observers in the field. The achieved reliability considering accuracy, completeness and reliability of the reported avalanche events is limited. In this study we present the spatial continuous mapping of a large avalanche period in January 2018 covering the majority of the Swiss Alps (12'500 km 2 ). 15We tested different satellite sensors available for rapid mapping during a first avalanche period. Based on these experiences, we tasked SPOT6/7 data for data acquisition to cover the second, much larger avalanche period. We manually mapped the outlines of 18'737 individual avalanche events, applying image enhancement techniques to analyze regions in cast shadow as well as brightly illuminated ones. 20The resulting dataset of mapped avalanche outlines, having a unique completeness and reliability, is evaluated to produce maps of avalanche occurrence and avalanche size. We validated the mapping of the avalanche outlines using photographs acquired from helicopters just after the avalanche period.This study demonstrates the applicability of optical, very high spatial resolution satellite data to map an 25 exceptional avalanche period with very high completeness, accuracy and reliability over a large region.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Acknowledgmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introduction 30mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introduction 30mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Where are the avalanches? Rapid mapping of a large snow avalanche period with optical satellites

Bühler¹,

Hafner²,

Zweifel³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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“…In recent years, seismic monitoring has been employed in different branches of avalanche research as an indirect method to study or detect events. Automatic detection of avalanches in the continuous seismic data has been a focus of study for several decades (e.g., Leprettre et al, 1996;Bessason et al, 2007;Hammer et al, 2017;Heck et al, 2018aHeck et al, , 2019. One goal has been to create a catalog of avalanche activity to validate forecasting models and another is to develop warning systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seismic location and tracking of snow avalanches and slush flows on Mt. Fuji, Japan

et al. 2019

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Avalanches are often released at the dormant stratovolcano Mt. Fuji, which is the highest mountain of Japan (3776 m a.s.l.). These avalanches exhibit different flow types from dry-snow avalanches in winter to slush flows triggered by heavy rainfall in late winter to early spring. Avalanches from different flanks represent a major natural hazard as they can reach large dimensions with run-out distances up to 4 km, destroy parts of the forest, and sometimes damage infrastructure. To monitor the volcanic activity of Mt. Fuji, a permanent and dense seismic network is installed around the volcano. The small distance between the seismic sensors and the volcano flank ( < 10 km) allowed us to detect numerous avalanche events from the seismic recordings and locate them in time and space. We present the detailed analysis of three avalanche or slush flow periods in the winters of 2014, 2016, and 2018. The largest events (size class 4-5) are detected by the seismic network at maximum distances of about 15 km, and medium-size events (size class 3-4) within a radius of 9 km. To localize the seismic events, we used the automated approach of amplitude source location (ASL) based on the decay of the seismic amplitudes with distance from the moving flow. The recorded amplitudes at each station have to be corrected by the site amplification factors, which are estimated by the coda method using data from local earthquakes. Our results show the feasibility of tracking the flow path of avalanches and slush flows with considerable precision (on the order of magnitude of 100 m) and thus estimating information such as the approximate run-out distance and the average front speed of the flows, which are usually poorly known. To estimate the precision of the seismic tracking, we analyzed aerial photos of the release area and determined the flow path and run-out distance, estimated the release volume from the meteorological records, and conducted numerical simulations with Titan2D to reconstruct the dynamics of the flow. The precision as a function of time is deduced from the comparison with the numerical simulations, showing mean location errors ranging between 85 and 271 m. The average front speeds estimated seismically, which ranged from 27 to 51 m s −1 , are consistent with the numerically predicted speeds. In addition, we deduced two scaling relationships based on seismic parameters to quantify the size of the mass flow events. Our results are indispensable for assessing avalanche risk in the Mt. Fuji region as seismic records are often the only available dataset for this natural hazard. The approach presented here could be applied in the development of an early-detection and location system for avalanches based on seismic sensors.Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 990 C. Pérez-Guillén et al.: Seismic avalanche tracking on Mt. Fuji

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Rockfall localization from seismic polarization considering multiple triaxial geophones and frequency bands

et al. 2020

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Localization of seismic events produced by avalanches using multiple signal classification

Cited by 19 publications

References 35 publications

Where are the avalanches? Rapid mapping of a large snow avalanche period with optical satellites

Where are the avalanches? Rapid mapping of a large snow avalanche period with optical satellites

Seismic location and tracking of snow avalanches and slush flows on Mt. Fuji, Japan

Rockfall localization from seismic polarization considering multiple triaxial geophones and frequency bands

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