Real-Time Monitoring of rapid slope hazards through Radar Doppler in Italy

Ground-Based Doppler Radar (GBDR) is an innovative technology designed to address hazards in steep mountainous terrains. Rockfalls, rockslides, ice and snow avalanches pose significant risks to human lives, infrastructures and ecosystems. These rapid phenomena sometimes exhibit minimal deformation prior to failure, making early detection challenging. GBDR offers a promising solution for real-time, long-range, and wide-area monitoring of such rapid slope hazards. This technology enables timely alerts once the phenomenon has been triggered, allowing for an instantaneous response to mitigate risks in vulnerable areas. Additionally, GDBR data allows for the reconstruction of runout trajectories, which is crucial for calibrating mitigation measures and prioritizing structural interventions to protect the elements at risk.

In Italy and around the world, GBDR has been successfully deployed at a limited number of sites, addressing various types of gravitational deformation, from rockslides (e.g., Ruinon landslide) to ice-rock avalanches (e.g., Marmolada glacier). Recently it has been installed to monitor a sub-vertical granitic slope, 500 meters high, above the Gallivaggio sanctuary (Central Italian Alps), specifically to detect  rockfalls ranging in size from thousands of cubic meters to approximately one cubic meter. To our knowledge, this is the first instance of GBRD being deployed to monitor such a steep, acute-angled slope alongside an existing Ground-Based Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (GB-InSAR) monitoring system.

In this work preliminary results of these monitoring activities are presented, highlighting the potential of GBDR technology to enhance slope monitoring and risk mitigation strategies in mountainous regions.