The U.S. Geological Survey is expanding its landslide monitoring efforts in Southeast Alaska. The goal is to eventually develop an emergency alert system.

Data from Juneau’s Mount Roberts went online last month.

Dennis Staley leads the Alaska Landslide Hazards Project at USGS. He said that even though people in Southeast die from landslides, there aren’t forecasts for them yet. At least a dozen people have died in landslides in the region over the past decade.

“We’re trying to understand the hydrometeorological conditions that make landslides,” he said.

In Juneau, Staley said his team chose research sites on the northwest and southwest slopes of Mount Roberts partly due to the danger posed to the downtown area. Numerous recent and historic landslides have struck

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