RAPID: Exploiting El Nino to Test for Shear Dilation in a Slow Moving Landslide

滑坡是一种自然灾害，可能会破坏基础设施并造成生命损失。有些山体滑坡是快速和灾难性的，发生在几秒钟到几分钟的时间内。其他的则是缓慢的，有时每年只移动几毫米，而且只有在下雨的时候才被激活。经过几年到几个世纪的时间，这些缓慢移动的山体滑坡，也被称为土石流，可能会用沉积物污染水体，破坏水坝和其他类型的民用基础设施。该项目将研究加州一个长期休眠的地球流，由于气象学家预测的厄尔尼诺现象即将到来，该地球流预计将在今年冬天移动。收集的数据可能会导致在未来的能力，以预测的条件下，导致地球流动。这些知识可能对民用基础设施的建设和管理有用。此外，该项目还将为一名美国土著博士提供培训。学生.该项目的结果将与公用事业委员会分享，以告知他们的管理决策。该项目将使用来自连续探地雷达（GPS）站和浅层地下水监测网络的新测量结果，并结合加利福尼亚州圣何塞附近Oakridge土流的40个已建立基准点的现有网络，测试首席研究员的假设的物理过程，调节变形的土石流，并防止他们失败的灾难性。该提案解决了缺乏预测滑坡运动的交通法的问题，这是2010年国家研究理事会报告“边缘景观”中确定的一个关键知识差距。鉴于即将到来的厄尔尼诺事件可能是有记录以来最强烈的事件之一，该项目提供了一个独特的，时间敏感的机会来检查广泛的滑坡活动。

Landslides are a natural hazard that can potentially damage infrastructure and cause loss of life. Some landslides are rapid and catastrophic, occurring over periods of seconds to minutes. Others are sluggish, sometimes moving only millimeters per year and only when activated by rain. Over years to centuries, these slow-moving landslides, also known as earthflows, can contaminate waterbodies with sediment and damage dams and other types of civil infrastructure. This project will examine a long dormant earthflow in California that is expected to move this winter as a result of the coming El Nino that meteorologists are predicting. The data collected may lead in the future to the ability to predict the conditions that result in earthflow movement. This knowledge could be useful for construction and management of civil infrastructure. In addition, this project will provide training to a Native American Ph.D. student. The project results will be shared with a public utility commission to inform their management decisions.This project will use new measurements from a continuous Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPS) station and a shallow groundwater monitoring network in combination with an existing network of 40 established benchmarks on the Oakridge earthflow near San Jose, CA, to test the Principal Investigator's hypothesis for the physical process that regulates the deformation of earthflows and prevents them from failing catastrophically. The proposal addresses the lack of transport laws for predicting landslide motion, identified as a key knowledge gap in the 2010 National Research Council report "Landscapes on the Edge". Given the possibility that the coming El Nino event may be among the strongest ever recorded, this project offers a unique, time-sensitive opportunity to examine widespread landslide activity.