The newly started project KlimaDigital will research the effects of climate change on geohazards, such as landslides, snow avalanches and debris flow.
– Digital technology binds together the Norwegian society and partners in the private and public sectors to create a promising basis for the development of innovative solutions, says project manager Ivan Depina from SINTEF Building and Infrastructure.
Will provide a direct insight
The project will advance the competence of decision makers and infrastructure operators to predict and manage the uncertain effects of climate change on society by providing a direct insight into the effects of climate change on geohazards.
– The goal is to help them reducing geohazard risks by developing advanced technology for monitoring geohazards, and improved geohazard and climate prediction models, says Depina.
Developing a novel geohazard assessment framework
In KlimaDigital, the digitalization will provide a basis for the development of a novel geohazard assessment framework. The framework will primarily focus on risk reduction related to rainfall‑induced landslides and debris flows, with potetential extensions to other types of geohazards in the future.
The development of the framework will be based on novel Internet of Things (IoT) technology by establishing a network of sensors connected to the internet in a landslide susceptible area. The IoT technology advances existing solutions by enabling more efficient and flexible collection of information for longer periods of time on important parameters controlling slope stability.
The collected data will contribute to understanding the effects of climate change on landslides and mitigation of geohazard risks through integration with advanced landslide and climate prediction models.
Collaboration with research, industry and public partners
The novel geohazard assessment framework will be developed in cooperation with several strong research, industry and public partners. The research partners include SINTEF, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and the Meteorological Institute.
The industry partners Telia, Nordic Semiconductor and Geonor contribute with expertise on important technical aspects of the project. The public partners are the Norwegian Public Road Authority and the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate.
KlimaDigital is a competence‑building project with financial support form the Research Council of Norway under the KLIMAFORSK-program, which aims to promote outstanding climate research to the benefit of society and increasing knowledge about effects of climate change and climate adaptation.
