Early warning systems for natural hazards and risks
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Natural hazards pose an increasing threat to society. Processes change in magnitude and frequency and exposures are modified within short time periods over large areas. Despite our increasing knowledge, the damage tolls due to natural hazards seem to be on the rise. Therefore, a comprehensive risk management strategy is needed to reduce the disaster risks. Within a sustainable management of disaster risks, the installation of an early warning system is often a cost-effective risk mitigation measure, and in some instances the only suitable option.
Consequently, the guest editors decided to convene a session within the European Geoscience Union conference to present different early warning systems for natural hazards, independent of whether these deal with landslides, floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, droughts or hydro-meteorological events. The invited presentations addressed conceptual issues, already operating installations or planned systems. It was highlighted that the session was not explicitly focussing on single hazards, but rather addressing the different approaches taken to install, monitor and analyse the hazards. In addition, any research on the establishment of warning thresholds, the communication chain and the prevention strategies were welcome. In total, six oral presentations and 11 poster presentations were received and presented during the conference. These were structured into the different sections: Integrative Warning Systems, Earthquake Warning Systems, Landslide and Debris Flow Warning Systems and Challenges in Early Warning. Out of the 17 presentations, seven papers that provide an overview of related specific topics have been accepted for this topical volume.
The contribution entitled “The Common Information Platform for Natural Hazards in Switzerland” is authored by Benedikt Heil, Ingo Petzold, Hans E. Romang and Josef Hess. Following a series of remarkable hazardous events in Switzerland, a co-operation between the official Swiss warning centres for individual natural hazards was initiated. This initiative has received high attention and support on a political level. A “Common Information Platform for Natural Hazards” GIN, which aims to present safety-relevant data in real time, was launched. In order to achieve this in a sustainable manner, the collaboration between the different Swiss warning centres had to be enhanced. In the presented contribution, Heil and his colleagues describe the concept of GIN and the main structural components.
In the second contribution, Corey R. Froese describes the “Structure and components for the warning and emergency response system on Turtle Mountain, Alberta, Canada”. This work focuses on the site of the 1903 Frank Slide, where over 80 sensors have been installed. The data that are continuously collected and analysed help to characterize and provide warning for an expected second large rock avalanche from the eastern face of the mountain, where various unstable masses have been identified. The local conditions in terms of deformation patterns and slope kinematics have been investigated in detail, and the warning and emergency response procedures are addressed. Froese points out that not only responsibilities and communications protocols during an emergency have to be detailed but also the day-to-day operational responses and procedures to ensure a sustainable operational system have to be addressed.
In the contribution, “Infrasound produced by debris flow: Propagation and frequency content evolution” authored by Arnold Kogelnig, Johannes Hübl, Emma Suriñach, Ignasi Vilajosanaa and Brian McArdell, the detection of signals of debris flow movements is done by using an infrasound vibration measurement technique. In recent studies, it was shown that debris flows generate characteristic signals in the low-frequency infrasonic spectrum (4–15 Hz), which can travel thousands of kilometres and can still be detected. Consequently, these signals are implemented into an automated monitoring system, which is 