Landslide Analysis and Early Warning Systems: Local and Regional Case Study in the Swabian Alb, Germany

271 Pages·2012·8.636 MB·English

by  Benni Thiebes (auth.)

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Benni Thiebes
Landslide Analysis and Early
Warning Systems
Local and Regional Case Study in the
Swabian Alb, Germany
Doctoral Thesis accepted by
The University of Vienna, Austria
123
Author Supervisor
Dr. BenniThiebes Prof.Dr. ThomasGlade
Department of Geography andRegional Department of Geography andRegional
Research Research
Universityof Vienna Universityof Vienna
Universitaetsstrasse 7 Universitaetsstrasse 7
1010Vienna 1010Vienna
Austria Austria
ISSN 2190-5053 e-ISSN 2190-5061
ISBN 978-3-642-27525-8 e-ISBN978-3-642-27526-5
DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-27526-5
SpringerHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2011945689
(cid:2)Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg2012
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Parts of this thesis have been published in the following book chapters
and articles:
MayerJ,GladeT,ThiebesB,BellR(2010)IntegrativeFrühwarnsysteme.In:BellR,
GladeT,GreivingS,MayerJ,PohlJ(eds)IntegrativeFrühwarnsystemefürgrav-
itativeMassenbewegungen(ILEWS)—Monitoring,Modellierung,Implementierung,
pp17–31.
Bell R, Greiving S, Pohl J, Röhrs M, Glade T, Thiebes B, Mayer J (2010)
Untersuchungsgebiete. In: Bell R, Glade T, Greiving S, Mayer J, Pohl J (eds)
Integrative Frühwarnsysteme für gravitative Massenbewegungen (ILEWS)—
Monitoring, Modellierung, Implementierung, pp 32–45.
BellR,WiebeH,KrummelH,CamekT,BeckerR,ÖhlS,AslanAM,BurghausS,
LiL,SchauerteW,KuhlmannH,ThiebesB(2010)Monitoring.In:BellR,GladeT,
Greiving S, Mayer J, Pohl J (eds) Integrative Frühwarnsysteme für gravitative
Massenbewegungen (ILEWS)—Monitoring, Modellierung, Implementierung,
pp62–129.
Thiebes B, Bell R, Glade T, Aslan AM, Schauerte W, Kuhlmann H (2010)
Frühwarnmodellierung. In: Bell R, Glade T, Greiving S, Mayer J, Pohl J (eds)
Integrative Frühwarnsysteme für gravitative Massenbewegungen (ILEWS)—
Monitoring, Modellierung, Implementierung, pp 130–154.
Bell R, Mayer J, Pohl J, Greiving S, Paulsen H, Röhrs M, Jäger S, Wiebe H,
Thiebes B (2010) Erfahrungen aus dem integrativen Projekt. In: Bell R, Glade T,
Greiving S, Mayer J, Pohl J (eds) Integrative Frühwarnsysteme für gravitative
Massenbewegungen (ILEWS)—Monitoring, Modellierung, Implementierung,
pp 231–237.
Bell R, Mayer J, Pohl J, Greiving S, Paulsen H, Röhrs M, Jäger S, Wiebe H,
Thiebes B, Aslan AM (2010) Transferierbarkeit des integrativen Frühwarnsys-
tems. In: Bell R, Glade T, Greiving S, Mayer J, Pohl J (eds) Integrative
Frühwarnsysteme für gravitative Massenbewegungen (ILEWS)—Monitoring,
Modellierung, Implementierung, pp 238–243.
BellR,BeckerR,BurghausS,DixA,FlexF,GladeT,GreivingS,GreveK,JägerS,
JanikM,KuhlmannH,KrummelH,LangA,LiL,MayerC,MayerJ,PadbergA,
Paulsen H,PohlJ,RöhrsM,SchauerteW,Thiebes B,Wiebe H(2009) ILEWS—
Integrative landslides early warning systems. In: Stroink L (ed) Geotechnologien
Science Report (conference proceeding), early warning systems in Earth manage-
ment,No13,TechnicalUniversityMunich,Germany,pp16–32.
Bell R, Glade T, Thiebes B, Jäger S, Krummel H, Janik M Holland R (2009)
Modelling and web processing of early warning. In: Malet J-P, Remaître A,
Bogaard T (eds) Landslide processes—from geomorphic mapping to dynamic
modelling (conference proceeding), CERG Editions, Strasbourg, France,
pp 249–252.
Bell R, Thiebes B, Glade T, Becker R, Kuhlmann H, Schauerte W, Burghaus S,
Krummel H, Janik M, Paulsen H (2008) The technical concept within the inte-
grative landslide early warning systems (ILEWS) project. 10th international
symposium on landslides and engineered slopes (conference proceeding). Xi’an,
China, pp 293–298.
I dedicate this work to my family
Supervisor’s Foreword
Landslide early warning systems are most important throughout the world. These
systems are always installed when the socio-economic consequences have either
been experienced or are expected to be significant. Commonly, landslide early
warningsystemsare basedoneither spatialwarningswithrespect totriggers,and
herein specifically to hydro-meteorological events, or on locally installed moni-
toringdevices.Inmostcases,thesesystemsfocusonthetechnicalaspectsofearly
warning—and do not take into consideration the whole chain of early warning
includingmonitoring,analysis,establishing alertthresholds,issuing warnings and
up to the societal responses including responsibilities, management options and
decision making.
Inthisresearch,bothlocalandregionalearlywarningsystemsareinvestigated
andpotentialapplicationsaregiven.Specificresearchquestionsincludedthetopic
on how slope hydrology contributes to the reactivation of landslide movements
and how physically-based slope stability models can be applied in local landslide
early warning. On the regional scale, the research focused on the question if
landslidetriggeringrainfallthresholdsareapplicabletoregionalearlywarning.All
these questions are explored in a case study in the Swabian Alb, Germany.
Innovative concepts and solutions are suggested, in particular the online web-
based physically-based slope stability model has never been developed and
installed. However, also the continuous monitoring of geoelectric profiles to
determinethespatiotemporalwaterpercolation,thedatatransferinthefieldusing
wireless network technology or the development, implementation and application
of a web-based online landslide early warning deserves wide international
attention.
I am confident, that numerous of the explored research topics are of highest
interest and relevance to the landslide community as well as to the stakeholders
having to deal with the landslide problems. The knowledge and conceptual ideas
of landslide early warning systems enhanced significantly by this research work.
Vienna, November 2011 Prof. Dr. Thomas Glade
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Preface
Recentlandslideeventsdemonstratetheneedtoimprovelandslideforecastingand
earlywarningcapabilitiesinordertoreducerelatedrisksandprotecthumanlives.
In this thesis, local and regional investigations were carried out to analyse land-
slidecharacteristicsintheSwabianAlbregion,andtodevelopprototypiclandslide
early warning systems.
In the local study area, an extensive hydrological and slope movement moni-
toring system was installed on a seasonally reactivated landslide body located in
Lichtenstein-Unterhausen.Monitoringdatawasanalysedtoassesstheinfluenceof
rainfall and snow-melt on groundwater conditions, and the initiation of slope
movements.Thecoupledhydrology-slopestabilitymodelCHASMwasappliedto
detect areas most prone to slope failures, and to simulate slope stability using a
variety of input data. Subsequently, CHASM was refined and two web-based
applications were developed: a technical early warning system to constantly
simulateslopestabilityintegratingrainfallmeasurements,hydrologicalmonitoring
data and weather forecasts; and a decision-support system allowing for quick
calculation of stability for freely selectable slope profiles.
Ontheregionalscale,availablelandslideinventorydatawereanalysedfortheir
use in evaluation of rainfall thresholds proposed in other studies. Adequate
landslide events were selected and their triggering rainfall and snow-melting
conditions were compared to intensity-duration and cumulative thresholds. Based
on the results, a regional landslide early warning system was developed and
implemented as a web-based application.
Both, the local and the regional landslide early warning systems are part of a
holisticandintegrativeearlywarningchaindevelopedbytheILEWSproject,and
could easily be transferred to other landslide prone areas.
xi
Acknowledgments
FirstofallIwanttothankmysupervisorProf.Dr.ThomasGlade,whoencouraged
me to write a Ph.D. thesis and who kindly offered me the chance to work in his
new working group established at the University of Vienna. Thank you for your
support and guidance! I would like to thank my colleague and friend Dr. Rainer
Bell for the great cooperation over the last few years; it has always been a great
pleasuretoworkwithyou,andourdiscussionshavehelpedimmenselytoimprove
my thesis.
I am grateful to the entire ENGAGE working group at the Institute of
Geography and Regional Research in Vienna for comments and discussion. My
special thanksgoouttomyofficecolleagues. Yoursupportandfriendship helped
me a lot on my way. I also would like to thank the entire ILEWS project. These
have been exciting and challenging years and I enjoyed working with you very
much.Thankyouforthewonderfulcolleagueship.Iwouldespeciallyliketothank
Stefan, Raik and Bernd from the company Geomer for great cooperation in cre-
ating the technical early warning systems.
Forhelpwithbureaucracy andorganisationIwant toacknowledge thesupport
technicalstaffattheinstitute,especiallyHelmutSlawikandRudiVoit.Laboratory
analysis of soil samples could not have been carried out without the kind help
ofChristaHermannand RobertPetizka. Iwouldalso liketothankallthe helping
hands during field work, in particular Berndl Groiss. Another person acknowl-
edged here is Mr. Siegler; without his appreciation of our work the entire project
would not have been possible. Furthermore, the local administration of
Lichtenstein-Unterhausen was very supportive which is highly acknowledged.
Many thanks to Malcolm Anderson and Liz Holcombe from the University of
Bristol for providing the CHASM software and the helpful tips on how to use it
most effectively. Significant rainfall data was kindly provided by Prof. Dr.
Clemens Simmer (Uni Bonn), Dr. Armin Mathes (Uni Bonn), Dr. Antje
Claussnitzer (Uni Berlin) and Walter Koelschtzky (DWD). Additional data was
kindly provided by the LUBW and LGL. Many thanks also to Jean-Christophe
Kohn for the landslide inventory data. The financial support granted by the
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