The work demonstrates how seismic networks installed in the Alps can be used for country-wide real-time monitoring of rockslide activity. We suggest simple methods that allow us to detect, locate, and characterize rockslides using the seismic signals they generate. We developed an automatic procedure to locate rockslides with kilometer accuracy over hundreds of kilometers of distance. Our findings highlight how seismic networks can help us to understand the triggering of rockslides.

Since 2002 OGS in Italy, ZAMG in Austria and ARSO in Slovenia were exchanging seismic data in real time via internet. This was not good for civil defense scopes because internet is not reliable: therefore, in 2012 the Protezione Civile di Bolzano in Italy joined OGS, ZAMG and ARSO in the Interreg IV Italia-Austria "SeismoSAT" project aimed in connecting the seismic data centers in real time via satellite.