Observed arrival · 2026-10-05
Sakai Laboratory: Rain, slopes and the physics of failure
A University of Tsukuba lab studies rain-triggered slope failures through full-scale experiments, remote sensing and numerical models.
- For
- Researchers and communities facing slope-failure risk
- Worth noticing
- Its Tsukuba facility tests full-size slopes across a 3,000 m² rainfall area, with intensities reaching 300 mm/h.
Field notes
At the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience’s Large-Scale Rainfall Experiment Facility in Tsukuba, the team tests full-size slopes, vegetation, sensors, drones and ground robots under controlled rainfall. The homepage lists three connected lines of work: slope failure and debris-flow behavior, satellite/UAV sensing and 3D point clouds, and extreme-rainfall analysis; it also names collaborations with Malaysia, Norway, Taiwan, the United States and Vietnam.
Observed signals
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