This Geologic Hazards Science Center is using supplemental funding to create the most comprehensive landslide hydrologic monitoring network in the United States.

Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details

Landslide hazards and geomagnetism scientists at the Geologic Hazards Science Center in Golden, CO, recently began installation of an island-wide hydrologic monitoring network to aid landslide research and forecasting in Puerto Rico. Landslides are a downward movement of soil, rock, and organic material affected by gravity and influenced by the shape of the terrain. They can occur in just seconds or can develop over the course of years.

Landslides in Puerto Rico present significant hazards to human safety and property, causing federal disaster declarations on average every 1.7 years. In 2017, Hurricane Maria triggered more than 70,000 landslides that caused widespread damage and several fatalities. These landslides disrupted transportation routes, dislodged homes from their foundations, and caused both direct and indirect loss of life. The event resulted in supplemental appropriations for the USGS Landslide Hazards Program for reducing landslide hazards on the island. The USGS is using this supplemental funding to create landslide susceptibility maps and tools to predict where future landslides are likely to occur and how far they will travel.

Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details

In Puerto Rico, landslide science is at a point where we can approximately predict where they will happen and how far they will go. However, it’s also critical to know when landslides will occur. To predict this, scientists need to understand the conditions that allow for them to occur including understanding soil moisture, the type of rock and soil, and the angle of the slope. The new USGS hydrologic monitoring network represents a key step forward in the collection of real-time data needed to improve landslide forecasting efforts in Puerto Rico. These on-the-ground measurements can be combined with satellite and radar datasets produced by other federal agencies, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Weather Service, to refine soil moisture forecasts in time and space, thereby improving the ability to forecast landslides.

From November 29 to December 7, 2021, Kelli Baxstrom, Emily Bedinger, Mason Einbund, Bill Schulz, John Spritzer, and Bill Worthington of the Geologic Hazards Science Center and Corina Cerovski-Darriau of the Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center traveled to Puerto Rico to construct the first three stations of the estimated 15 stations in Puerto Rico’s landslide forecasting network. The USGS will soon have the data from these monitoring stations posted in near-real time on public-facing websites. This data will be utilized to develop a landslide forecasting and alerting system in collaboration with the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez and the San Juan forecasting office of the National Weather Service. The stations are solar powered, and the USGS has partnered with the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez to make sure the stations continue to be free of debris and operational in the challenging jungle environment.