Time‐Lapse Electrical Resistivity Tomography (TL‐ERT) for Landslide Monitoring: Recent Advances and Future Directions

Abstract

To date, there is a growing interest for challenging applications of time‐lapse electrical resistivity tomography (TL‐ERT) in Earth sciences. Tomographic algorithms for resistivity data inversion and innovative technologies for sensor networks have rapidly transformed the TL‐ERT method in a powerful tool for the geophysical time‐lapse imaging. In this paper, we focus our attention on the application of this method in landslide monitoring. Firstly, an overview of recent methodological advances in TL‐ERT data processing and inversion is presented. In a second step, a critical analysis of the main results obtained in different field experiments and lab‐scale simulations are discussed. The TL‐ERT appears to be a robust and cost‐effective method for mapping the water‐saturated zones, and for the identification of the groundwater preferential pathways in landslide bodies. Furthermore, it can make a valuable contribution to following time‐dependent changes in top‐soil moisture, and the spatio‐temporal dynamics of wetting fronts during extreme rainfall events. The critical review emphasizes the limits and the advantages of this geophysical method and discloses a way to identify future research activities to improve the use of the TL‐ERT method in landslide monitoring.