SGER: Seismic Monitoring of Active Rock Fall Source Areas in the Yosemite National Park

约塞米蒂国家公园和约塞米蒂山谷的独特环境带来了巨大的风险，即岩石坠落会影响到每年成千上万游客使用的主要设施和道路。去年冬天初步部署的地震检波器和加速度计捕捉到了一次落石事件，证明了实时监测落石是可行的。该项目的目标是在这一活跃震源区附近(30米)迅速部署更密集的仪器阵列，以评估能够监测与落石引发相关的岩石噪声的可行性，并确定仪器记录是否可用于定位噪声源，就像在其他地震应用中所做的那样。这项工作必须在夏季进行，以便安全进入现场。此外，随着时间的推移，发生更多事件的可能性会降低，因此，及时的反应对成功至关重要。总体而言，这是一项非常高风险和高潜在回报的努力，如果成功，可能会显著改变识别和监测崩塌危险的方式。该项目对公共安全的许多方面都有重大而广泛的影响，因为落石危险并不局限于国家公园，特别是约塞米蒂国家公园。论证了利用实时仪器进行崩塌危险识别的可行性，并将在公路安全等领域得到应用。此外，对裂隙岩体的实时行为知之甚少，这些数据应该可以很好地洞察气候(温度、湿度、压力)变化的长期岩石行为。此外，在约塞米蒂国家公园开展活跃的科学项目将为公众提供一个机会，让他们了解这一壮观景观的地质学、地震学和自然演变。

The unique setting of Yosemite National Park and the Yosemite Valley brings with it a significant risk of rocks falls impacting on major facilities and pathways used by thousands of visitors every year. A preliminary geophone and accelerometer deployment last winter captured a rock fall event demonstrating that of real time monitoring of rock falls is feasible. The objective of this project is to rapidly deploy a denser array of instruments in close vicinity (30 m) of this active source area in order to asses the feasibility of being able to monitor rock noise associate with rock fall initiation and to determine if the instrument records can be used to localize the source of the noise, as is done in other seismic applications. This work has to be done in the summer in order to get safe access to the site. In addition, as time passes the probability of additional events decreases and, therefore, timely response is essential for success. Overall, this is a very high risk and high potential payoff effort that, if successful, could significantly change the way rock fall hazards are identified and monitored. The project has a significant broader impact in many aspects of public safety, since rock fall hazards are not confined just to national parks and Yosemite, in particular. The demonstration of the feasibility of rock fall hazard identification using real time instrumentation will have application in other areas such highway safety. In addition, not much is known about the real time behavior of fractured rock masses and the data should provide an excellent insight into long term rock mass behavior to climatic (temperature, humidity, pressure) changes. Also, having active science project in Yosemite National Park will provide an opportunity to educate the general public about the geology, seismology, and natural evolution of this spectacular landscape.