Relationships between rockfall and environmental factors have been the focus of considerable research over the last several decades. Many prior studies have not quantified rockfall volume due to challenges in volume estimation without the use of modern remote sensing methods, and the role of longer-term conditioning factors on rockfall activity is often not considered. As part of a broader effort to evaluate rockfall hazard for slopes along the heavily trafficked Interstate-70 corridor in Colorado, this study takes advantage of a high temporal resolution lidar-derived rockfall database consisting of over five years' worth of rockfall data at a particular cut slope to evaluate the relationship between rockfall activity and environmental factors. The combination of monitoring duration and spatiotemporal monitoring resolution used allows for evaluation of both triggering and conditioning factors. Correlations are evaluated between rockfall metrics and weather metrics at a seasonal scale as well as the scale of individual monitoring intervals. Based on the results, it is interpreted that surficial rock material is weakened each Winter by freezing processes, large amounts of rockfall occur in the Spring as a result of the slope thawing out, elevated rockfall activity continues over the Summer as surficial rocks destabilized by freezing processes in the previous Winter are fully dislodged, and rockfall activity significantly reduces in the Fall due to the number of unstable blocks available to fall being significantly reduced. From comparison with the literature, we conclude this cycle is relatively consistent with rockfall trends observed in alpine environments, while more temperate regions exhibit notably different trends in rockfall seasonality.

中文翻译：

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从激光雷达衍生的落石数据库解释落石触发因素和调节因素的季节性

过去几十年来，落石与环境因素之间的关系一直是大量研究的焦点。由于在不使用现代遥感方法的情况下估算体积的挑战，许多先前的研究尚未量化落石体积，并且通常不考虑长期调节因素对落石活动的作用。作为评估科罗拉多州交通繁忙的 70 号州际公路沿线斜坡落石危害的更广泛努力的一部分，本研究利用了高时间分辨率激光雷达衍生的落石数据库，该数据库包含五年多在特定位置的落石数据。切割坡度以评估落石活动与环境因素之间的关系。所使用的监测持续时间和时空监测分辨率的组合允许评估触发因素和调节因素。在季节尺度以及单个监测间隔的尺度上评估落石指标和天气指标之间的相关性。根据结果​​，可以解释为，每年冬季，表层岩石物质都会因冻结过程而减弱，由于斜坡解冻，春季会发生大量落石，而夏季，由于表层岩石会因冻结而不稳定，落石活动会持续增加。前一个冬季的过程完全被清除，并且由于可用于掉落的不稳定块的数量显着减少，落石活动在秋季显着减少。通过与文献的比较，我们得出结论，这个周期与高山环境中观察到的落石趋势相对一致，而更温带地区的落石季节性趋势则表现出明显不同的趋势。