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Encyclopedia of Natural Hazards pp 686–696Cite as

Monitoring Natural Hazards

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Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Synonyms

Observation; Surveillance; Watching

Definition

The verb “to monitor” comes from the Latin “monere” which means to warn. In geosciences, it means to watch carefully at a hazardous situation and to observe its evolution and changes over a period of time. It is also used to define the activity of a device that measures periodically or continuously sensitive states and specific parameters.

Introduction

Hazard monitoring is based on the acquisition and the interpretation of a signal indicating changes in behavior or properties of a hazardous phenomenon or the occurrence of events. This ranges from acquiring basic meteorological data to advanced ground movement measurements. Hazards monitoring began sometime ago, when the Babylonians first tried to forecast weather. When Aristotle wrote his treatise Meteorologica, the Chinese were also aware of weather observations (NASA, 2012a). Pliny the Elder studied in details the eruption of the Vesuvius in August 79 AD, providing one of the...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geomatics and Analysis of Risk, AMPHIPOLE – 338, Faculté des géosciences et de l’environnement, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Prof. Dr. Michel Jaboyedoff, Pascal Horton, Dr. Marc-Henri Derron, Céline Longchamp & Clément Michoud

Authors
  1. Prof. Dr. Michel Jaboyedoff
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  2. Pascal Horton
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  3. Dr. Marc-Henri Derron
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  4. Céline Longchamp
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  5. Clément Michoud
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Correspondence to Michel Jaboyedoff .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada

    Peter T. Bobrowsky

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Jaboyedoff, M., Horton, P., Derron, MH., Longchamp, C., Michoud, C. (2013). Monitoring Natural Hazards. In: Bobrowsky, P.T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Natural Hazards. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4399-4_354

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