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J. Fluixá-Sanmartín et al.
E. Warning station located in the community of Pariacaca (3053 m a.s.l.): this
station consists of monitoring equipment that allows the community to view
real-time data of the Laguna 513. This station has two sirens that are activated
from the data center (D) when a GLOF is confirmed.
All stations were equipped with solar panels and batteries for energy generation
and storage, and had a mast where most of the instruments are fixed, a concreted and
lockable box for the electronic equipment, and a protection fence. Energy availability
is a critical and limiting factor, in particular at the station at Laguna 513, because
the peaks of the Cordillera Blanca experience a much higher frequency in cloud
coverage that regions further away from the main peaks. For preventing data loss
and interrupted access in case of blackouts, emergency power batteries were available
in the building of the municipality.
While the geophones are the principle instruments to register a potential GLOF
trigger, the cameras are used as a backup as well as means for viewing the current
situation, and, in particular during the test phase of the system, for relating geophone
measurements to the magnitude of (avalanche) events. The pressure sensor in the
riverbed at the Pampa Shonquil station adds redundancy to the system on the one hand
and, if calibrations measurements are taken, can be used for continuously monitoring
the runoff. Next to the station at Pampa Shonquil, there is a permanently manned hut
of the wardens of the freshwater intake of Carhuaz. The warden is instructed to notify
the authorities in case of an event, which is an additional and essential component
of redundancy to the system.
16.3.3 Dissemination and Communication (Data
Management)
All recorded data is stored first in the data logger at the respective station, then
after data transmission (5 s intervals), on a server located in the data center and
backed up on a cloud service. All the data can be assessed through a website to allow
for real-time remote monitoring. In the data center itself—a dedicated office in the
Municipality of Carhuaz—a screen displays the data from this web page continuously
(24/7). The web page is structured in nine sub-pages: the last event for which the
geophone data and several photos are shown from the moment when the geophone
data exceeded the defined thresholds; the station Laguna 513 with the measurements
of the geophones and small images taken by the two cameras and an indication of
the charge level of the battery; the station Pampa Shonquil with the plots of the
measurements of precipitation, humidity, radiation, temperature, pressure sensor,
and wind speed and an indication of the charge level of the battery; the cameras
showing the recent photos in higher resolution; an SMS warning module with the
possibility to send out text messages manually to the registered cell phones; and the
alarm activation module; a data download sub-page with the possibility to download
all archived dated for a selectable time range. The sub-page of the Pampa Shonquil
J. Fluixá-Sanmartín et al.
E. Warning station located in the community of Pariacaca (3053 m a.s.l.): this
station consists of monitoring equipment that allows the community to view
real-time data of the Laguna 513. This station has two sirens that are activated
from the data center (D) when a GLOF is confirmed.
All stations were equipped with solar panels and batteries for energy generation
and storage, and had a mast where most of the instruments are fixed, a concreted and
lockable box for the electronic equipment, and a protection fence. Energy availability
is a critical and limiting factor, in particular at the station at Laguna 513, because
the peaks of the Cordillera Blanca experience a much higher frequency in cloud
coverage that regions further away from the main peaks. For preventing data loss
and interrupted access in case of blackouts, emergency power batteries were available
in the building of the municipality.
While the geophones are the principle instruments to register a potential GLOF
trigger, the cameras are used as a backup as well as means for viewing the current
situation, and, in particular during the test phase of the system, for relating geophone
measurements to the magnitude of (avalanche) events. The pressure sensor in the
riverbed at the Pampa Shonquil station adds redundancy to the system on the one hand
and, if calibrations measurements are taken, can be used for continuously monitoring
the runoff. Next to the station at Pampa Shonquil, there is a permanently manned hut
of the wardens of the freshwater intake of Carhuaz. The warden is instructed to notify
the authorities in case of an event, which is an additional and essential component
of redundancy to the system.
16.3.3 Dissemination and Communication (Data
Management)
All recorded data is stored first in the data logger at the respective station, then
after data transmission (5 s intervals), on a server located in the data center and
backed up on a cloud service. All the data can be assessed through a website to allow
for real-time remote monitoring. In the data center itself—a dedicated office in the
Municipality of Carhuaz—a screen displays the data from this web page continuously
(24/7). The web page is structured in nine sub-pages: the last event for which the
geophone data and several photos are shown from the moment when the geophone
data exceeded the defined thresholds; the station Laguna 513 with the measurements
of the geophones and small images taken by the two cameras and an indication of
the charge level of the battery; the station Pampa Shonquil with the plots of the
measurements of precipitation, humidity, radiation, temperature, pressure sensor,
and wind speed and an indication of the charge level of the battery; the cameras
showing the recent photos in higher resolution; an SMS warning module with the
possibility to send out text messages manually to the registered cell phones; and the
alarm activation module; a data download sub-page with the possibility to download
all archived dated for a selectable time range. The sub-page of the Pampa Shonquil