Postfire Landslide Monitoring Station: “Maria Ygnacio” (2019 Cave Fire) near Santa Barbara, California
Wildfire can increase landslide susceptibility in mountainous terrain. The USGS maintains postfire landslide monitoring stations to track hillslope hydrologic conditions in the years following fire.
Recent Conditions
Instrumentation was installed within the footprint of the 2019 Cave Fire in the Santa Ynez Mountains of southern California. The surface and subsurface data are used to monitor and detect changes in local hillslope hydrologic conditions. Soil-water content, soil suction, and groundwater pressure are measured in a single nest on the same hillslope. Telemetered data for the site include:
- Rainfall
- Air temperature and relative humidity
- Soil-water content, soil suction, soil temperature, and groundwater pressure head
- Battery voltage
- Rainfall comparison
- Soil-water content comparison
Data are recorded every minute and updated on the graphs every 60 minutes.
Project Background
Following a 9 January 2023 atmospheric river storm in southern California, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS; Landslide Hazards Program), California Geological Survey (Burned Watershed Geohazards Program), and U.S. Forest Service observed abundant landslide activity in the Santa Ynez Mountains within Santa Barbara County. A greater proportion of these infiltration-generated landslides, which mobilized into debris flows, occurred in the 2017 Thomas Fire and 2019 Cave Fire, compared to similarly steep terrain in the 2008 Tea Fire, 2009 Jesusita Fire, and areas that have not burned in more than 30 years. The varying degrees of postfire landscape recovery may have played a role in the apparent contrast in landslide activity. To resolve process-based controls on postfire landsliding and to contribute to the development of antecedent soil moisture and rainfall thresholds for the region, a monitoring station was installed in Maria Ygnacio Canyon within the Los Padres National Forest. The surface and near-surface hydrologic monitoring will provide valuable constraints on the conditions leading up to, and during, rainstorms that produce landslides.
Wildfire can increase landslide susceptibility in mountainous terrain. The USGS maintains postfire landslide monitoring stations to track hillslope hydrologic conditions in the years following fire.
Recent Conditions
Instrumentation was installed within the footprint of the 2019 Cave Fire in the Santa Ynez Mountains of southern California. The surface and subsurface data are used to monitor and detect changes in local hillslope hydrologic conditions. Soil-water content, soil suction, and groundwater pressure are measured in a single nest on the same hillslope. Telemetered data for the site include:
- Rainfall
- Air temperature and relative humidity
- Soil-water content, soil suction, soil temperature, and groundwater pressure head
- Battery voltage
- Rainfall comparison
- Soil-water content comparison
Data are recorded every minute and updated on the graphs every 60 minutes.
Project Background
Following a 9 January 2023 atmospheric river storm in southern California, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS; Landslide Hazards Program), California Geological Survey (Burned Watershed Geohazards Program), and U.S. Forest Service observed abundant landslide activity in the Santa Ynez Mountains within Santa Barbara County. A greater proportion of these infiltration-generated landslides, which mobilized into debris flows, occurred in the 2017 Thomas Fire and 2019 Cave Fire, compared to similarly steep terrain in the 2008 Tea Fire, 2009 Jesusita Fire, and areas that have not burned in more than 30 years. The varying degrees of postfire landscape recovery may have played a role in the apparent contrast in landslide activity. To resolve process-based controls on postfire landsliding and to contribute to the development of antecedent soil moisture and rainfall thresholds for the region, a monitoring station was installed in Maria Ygnacio Canyon within the Los Padres National Forest. The surface and near-surface hydrologic monitoring will provide valuable constraints on the conditions leading up to, and during, rainstorms that produce landslides.