Soil slope monitoring with Distributed Acoustic Sensing under wetting and drying cycles

Abstract

Hydromechanical soil response to moisture variations reflects complex subsurface dynamics that are critical for geoengineering, slope stability, and other soil health-related fields. While laboratory experiments have provided insights into soil behavior under varying wetness and loading conditions, field-scale observations with high spatial and temporal resolution remain limited. In this study, we present a 2 month field monitoring approach using Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS), which enables high-resolution, full-coverage, and continuous monitoring of a grass-covered soil slope. DAS allows for subsurface characterization and time-lapse monitoring of soil moisture dynamics using ambient noise interferometry. Furthermore, by analyzing nanostrain-scale deformation in conjunction with stress state derived from in situ soil moisture measurements, we demonstrate that DAS can track real-time volumetric changes in response to both long-term and daily cyclic moisture variations. We suggest DAS as a valuable tool for the continuous detection of moisture-driven changes in soil mechanical properties with high resolution.