ABSTRACT
Near-real-time monitoring of active landslides or landslide-prone hillslopes can provide immediate notification of landslide activity, as well as high-quality data sets for understanding the initiation and movement of landslides. Near-real-time monitoring systems have been used throughout the world to detect or forecast landslide activity. This chapter discusses some of the design considerations and components typical of ground-based, sitespecific, near-real-time landslide monitoring systems. It describes some US Geological Survey applications of such monitoring systems. Most landslide movement is activated or reactivated by increased pore-water pressures acting on a slide’s slip surface. Shallow landslides and accompanying debris flows pose a frequent and often devastating hazard worldwide. Near-real-time systems for monitoring active landslides or landslide-prone hillslopes have advanced rapidly and offer many advantages for understanding landslide processes. Near-real-time monitoring systems can provide the field conditions, but more work is needed on techniques to rapidly forecast future landslide behavior based on these near-real-time observations.
