Seismic monitoring of surface processes under a changing climate

Do you like listening to the rolling stones? Dr. Arnaud Burtin loves it, but he does it literally! Burtin uses the sound generated by landslides propagating rock debris downstream to develop new monitoring methods. The catastrophic nature of landslides prevents local measurements. An alternative method is to record ground vibrations yielded by landslides using distant seismometers. Dr. Burtin has started to assess the potential of this method. For this purpose, he conducted extensive fi eld work in Taiwan and in the Alps, where landslides are frequent, and analyzed seismic records collected on his trips. Landslides constitute a major hazard and are expected to become more frequent in the future due to climate change and increased extreme rainfall. Dr. Burtin's work might become useful for local authorities for establishing effi cient early warning systems.
My research focuses on the study of river sediment transport as well as hillsope processes (landslides, debris flows) to track the sediment transfer from the slopes to the streams. I work on the development of a technique that allows a spatial and continuous monitoring of surface processes. The approach is based on a seismic monitoring since surface processes can produce ground vibrations recorded by distant seismometers. The installed instruments are generally protected from catastrophic events, like floods and landslides, which can also be useful for the deployment of permanent warning systems.