Multi-site rock slope thermal monitoring: Initial results

This presentation is dedicated to a short description of a combined rock slope thermal monitoring system. The newly designed system is affordable and modular, which predisposes it to installation at multiple sites. This system is being used to monitor four different rock slopes in Czechia for a period of up to 3 years. Slopes differ by lithology, structural setting aspect and modes of instability. The monitoring system consists of a climate station, rock mass surface zone thermal monitoring and unstable blocks crackmeter monitoring. Since 2018 we have instrumented 11 blocks, which differ in terms of shape, volume and mode of destabilization. Analyses of crackmeter, thermal and climatic time-series showed influences of weather and temperature cycles on the crackmeter aperture. Consequently, short-term (diurnal) and medium-term (annual) temperature cycles on the rock slope surficial zone were described. Data show high variability linked to the partial blocks geometry and rock slope properties.