Fully understand the true face of geological hazards
Dong Hui, Li Chunyang, Qiu Guanyong
After visiting Mount Lu, Su Dongpo expressed his thoughts of "not knowing the true face of Mount Lu, only because he was in the mountain", elaborating on the profound philosophy of "those who are in charge are confused, those who are bystanders are clear". The Jiangxi Geological Environment Monitoring Station, which shoulders the heavy responsibility of monitoring geological disasters in Jiangxi, is also an "authority" in the midst of geological disasters. However, if they do not recognize the true face of geological disasters, it will be a big problem. However, the actual situation is that the geological environment monitoring in Jiangxi is very effective, which can be described as "fully understanding the true face of geological disasters".
As for how to achieve this "fully understanding the true face of geological hazards"? Let's explore in this seemingly confrontational dialogue between the "old" and "new", "near" and "far", "small" and "big", "few" and "many" of the monitoring station's Chief Engineer Zhou Yucai.
Old team, new ideas
Jiangxi Geological Environment Monitoring Station was established in 1981. As one of the earliest professional teams for geological environment monitoring in China, it has a long history of experience. For over thirty years, we have won numerous awards and are still fighting on the front line of geological disaster prevention and control. But few people know about one of these 'center of gravity shifts'.
At the beginning of its establishment, the main responsibility of the central station was to monitor groundwater dynamics, setting up numerous monitoring points and weaving a 'groundwater monitoring network'; In the 21st century, with the intensification of human engineering activities and the worsening climate, geological disasters have become more frequent, which has attracted the attention of the government and society. Therefore, our work focus has shifted to geological disaster investigation, monitoring, early warning and forecasting, engineering governance survey and design, prevention and control planning, and other aspects. ”General Manager Zhou Yucai opened the conversation box at the main station.
As is well known, there are many hilly and mountainous areas in the south, and Jiangxi is a microcosm of this place. Our province's terrain is mainly hilly, with fewer high and medium mountains. Generally, there are no steep mountains like the southwest and northwest, so geological disasters in Jiangxi are more likely to occur in hilly and low mountainous areas. There are few rock landslides in Jiangxi, and geological disasters are mainly soil landslides, with soil layer thickness generally less than 10 meters, so the scale of geological disasters is relatively small
There are many hidden geological hazards in Jiangxi, and the scale is small. Based on the current survey data, the confirmed hidden danger points are nearly 30000. However, the actual hidden danger points may not be limited to this number because there are many new geological hazard points that we have not yet identified. If we want to monitor them directly through traditional geological hazard monitoring methods, it is simply unrealistic to equip monitoring equipment at each hidden danger point for monitoring and forecasting. In addition, the traditional model for monitoring, warning, and forecasting geological disasters is that meteorological stations first make rainfall forecasts, and then send the data to the business departments of the central station. The business departments will predict where landslides and mudslides are likely to occur based on rainfall. However, there is a fatal problem: heavy rainfall is generally the determining factor for geological disasters, and it is difficult to accurately predict heavy rainfall, which often leads to inaccurate geological disaster prediction results, which can be said to be very inaccurate
General Engineer Zhou started working in 1985 and has been dealing with geological disasters for decades. In his opinion, since geological disasters in Jiangxi have their own characteristics and traditional measures often go against expectations, there must be "new actions" in specific prevention and control. We have adopted a new monitoring approach that is completely different from traditional thinking. Simply put, the traditional monitoring concept is to predict the possibility of geological disasters by monitoring the deformation and displacement changes of a specific hidden danger point. Our monitoring concept is to select representative hidden danger points, monitor the changes in their physical and mechanical properties of rock and soil with the rainfall process, and carry out regional geological disaster warning and forecasting. For soil landslides, it is actually a process in which rainfall infiltrates into the ground, causing an increase in soil moisture content and a decrease in mechanical properties. We study how rainfall infiltrates into the ground, saturates the soil, and reduces its mechanical properties. We monitor background conditions such as rainfall, groundwater level, soil moisture content, and soil stress. If these background conditions reach the level of triggering geological disasters, we can issue geological disaster warnings and forecasts for this area, which does not rely on heavy rainfall forecasts and improves accuracy
Near tech, far from human resources
The innovative move of Jiangxi Geological Environment Monitoring Station in geological hazard monitoring is not only a blessing for monitoring, but also a blessing for the people. But innovation cannot stop here, as the application of technology also plays a crucial role in the field of geological hazard monitoring。
When it comes to technology, General Engineer Zhou said with great interest, "Technology, especially advanced technologies such as remote sensing and GIS, are essential! Taking Jiangxi as an example, it was mentioned earlier that there are nearly 30000 hidden geological hazards. It is not realistic to send people to monitor so many hidden hazards. Firstly, if data is processed manually, it will consume a huge amount of manpower; Secondly, information data cannot be transmitted in a timely manner. So, we still need to pay attention to technology. We have applied a lot of technology in the field of geological disasters, such as geological disaster warning and forecasting. In the past seven years, we have issued 69 geological disaster meteorological forecasts for the whole province, and 3563 geological disaster meteorological forecasts at the city and county levels; Geological hazard meteorological forecasts are released through various forms such as television, radio, telephone, fax, text messages, websites, etc; In addition, we have established a national level groundwater dynamic monitoring database and data reporting procedures; The provincial geological hazard spatial database, relying on the monitoring and early warning demonstration project of geological hazard prone areas, is also under construction
Jiangxi started relatively early in the construction of geological hazard information technology. Without experience, we boldly conducted some pioneering experiments by feeling the stones and crossing the river, such as automated monitoring of geological hazards. At that time, there were few domestic research units on information platforms. Through cooperation with China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), we developed the Jiangxi Provincial Geological Hazard Monitoring Information Platform based on the MapGIS platform. After the 16th National Congress, the country carried out a large-scale geological survey, which attaches great importance to the construction of information technology. The main purpose is to establish a geological hazard catalog and build a database of information on hidden dangers and disaster points. Our data management in Jiangxi is mainly based on MapGIS as the basic platform
In 2004, we applied to the national government for the "Monitoring and Early Warning Demonstration Project for Key Geological Hazards in Jiangxi Province". After seven years of hard work, we completed the only provincial-level geological hazard monitoring, early warning, and forecasting demonstration project in China. This included the preparation of 9 regional maps (1/250000 to 1/500000) for the whole province, recording 25712 geological hazard investigation data records. We also conducted field supplementary investigations for typical geological hazard prone areas in 7 counties and cities, including Tonggu County, completing a survey workload of 2095km2 for 1/100000 regional engineering geological surveys and 1000km2 for 1/50000 engineering geological surveys; Establish 7 specialized artificial monitoring points for geological hazards to monitor pore water pressure, groundwater level, and soil stress; Establish 7 automated monitoring points for landslide geological hazards, including Hejiadong in Chengjiao Forest Farm, Tonggu County, Jiangxi Province. Each monitoring point is equipped with underground stress measurement devices, groundwater level measurement devices, soil moisture content measurement devices, rainfall measurement devices, solar panels, batteries, brackets, wires, and accessories. Displacement piles are buried at the rear edge and perimeter of the landslide to assist in monitoring surface displacement. Overall, the government attaches great importance to the informatization construction of geological disasters and its development is also very fast
Small system, great wisdom
For the application of advanced technology in geological hazard monitoring, General Engineer Zhou seems to have an endless experience. After introducing the overall situation of geological hazard information construction in Jiangxi Province, he talked about the just concluded "Jiangxi Geological Hazard Monitoring and Early Warning System" project with great enthusiasm. Although it is a small system, it embodies the great wisdom of technology.
This project is also developed based on the MapGIS platform. As early as 1998, our headquarters conducted geological hazard surveys and zoning work in Lichuan, Zixi, and Shangrao counties, which was also the earliest such work carried out nationwide. At that time, we chose the domestic software MapGIS to digitize the map and create a geographic base map, which improved our ability to investigate geological hazards
The system mainly utilizes advanced technologies such as computers, networks, GIS, etc., integrating functions such as geological hazard information management, group measurement and prevention, early warning and forecasting, monitoring and early warning in Jiangxi. We have implemented a series of functions such as querying and retrieving geological hazard monitoring data in Jiangxi Province, dynamic editing, 2D and 3D visualization, statistical analysis, etc., which can provide geological hazard monitoring information for relevant departments of the Jiangxi Provincial Government and scientific basis for geological hazard warning and forecasting; It also covers data on three types of geological hazard monitoring methods: professional monitoring, group monitoring and prevention, and meteorological warning. The establishment and improvement of the geological hazard monitoring and warning information system can further promote the standardization and normalization of the geological hazard system construction, and make the geological hazard prevention and control mechanism and system more perfect. At present, the effect is still very obvious in application. The management of massive data has been improved through this system; This system also makes reporting work more intuitive and easily attracts the attention of leaders; It is also very helpful for our investigation. Previously, the photos taken at the investigation site could be processed only after they were returned. Now they can be sent back first through remote communication, and leaders can inspect the field through the platform. "
But overall, this information system is still in the process of continuous improvement. With the increase of business demands, the demand for system intelligence is also increasing. We also need to conceptualize and model what we usually do, form experience, formulas, and concepts
I generally hold a positive attitude towards this system, and in the later stage, we will continue to improve it to make it more intelligent
Less obstruction, more push
In all aspects of work, while achieving success, we also encounter various difficulties in different forms, which can form obstacles. Geological hazard monitoring work is no exception, which has subjective reasons and objective limitations. Based on the actual situation of geological hazard work in Jiangxi, General Engineer Zhou earnestly told reporters: "After working in the field of geological hazards for so many years, we have achieved a lot of results, but also exposed some problems. A very tricky problem is that there are still very few talents who understand both technology and business. I think that people who deal with information now have a flaw, which is that they are writing programs behind closed doors; while those who understand geological hazard business are not very familiar with professional technology. So I believe that the two should have direct face-to-face communication, and geological efforts should be aligned with models, modeling everything. Those who work in information systems and informationization should also think about how to guide us in building models
General Engineer Zhou also expressed the desire for the country to vertically promote the informatization of geological disasters. He believes that gradually pushing the construction of geological disaster informatization as a mandatory indicator from the national level will be easier to promote. He also mentioned that the scope of data sharing is still too small, and some achievements have not been shared with society. And carrying out informatization is to enable society to share the fruits of information and data, which is meaningful.
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