A critical review of landslide monitoring experiences

Over the past few years, the monitoring of natural phenomena has acquired great importance for the scientific community. It aims to understand the mechanisms of disruptive processes, define adequate prevention measures for the mitigation of their effects and reduce the loss of human lives and assets. In order to detect the stability conditions of slopes belonging to different geological and environmental contexts, geotechnical investigations have been carried out since 1982. The various types of landslides to be investigated, and the diverse socio-economic contexts involved, have shown the need for constant surveillance, using the most up-to-date technology available. For this purpose, automatic recording systems connected to different sensors have been installed, (and also serve civil defence purposes). During this research activity, several problems arose, and several solutions had to be found. In this paper, some of the main problems concerning the installation and management of monitoring equipment used for the study of three landslides will be discussed. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.