As a consequence of change in hydrological cycles and the increase of exposed goods, the risk of landslides is globally growing all over the world. As a consequence, short-time landslide prediction is a fundamental tool for risk mitigation. To this aim, real-time monitoring and interpretation methods aiming at a full exploitation of the available landslide information are needed, including further development of sensor technology and use of advanced numerical modeling. The most commonly used warning parameters are direct measurements of slope displacement and pore-water pressures. However, recent research on landslide controlled by slope hydrology has shown that other parameters (e.g. soil moisture) can be used and other methods (e.g. electrical resistivity tomography, electrical spontaneous potential) are available, which might give indications on triggering even before an actual displacement is measureable and thus could possibly be used as physical precursors for short-term warning. The CNRS – Ecole et Observatoire des Sciences de la Terre (EOST) and the Geological Survey of Austria – Geophysical Division (GBA) started successfully to evaluate time-lapse resistivity measurements for monitoring changes in water content/flows in landslides (Travelletti et al., 2012; Supper et al., 2014; Gance et al., 2015) at different monitoring sites. At the same period, CNRS also started to establish the French Observatory on Landslides (OMIV: omiv.unistra.fr), which task is the long term monitoring and data sharing of landslide parameters (geodesy, hydrology, seismic). Results from these projects proved that electrical resistivity monitoring can be successfully applied to detect changes in water storage and to understand water circulation in complex landslide bodies. However, especially for clayey landslides, this method is only applicable with limitation, since the resistivity of clays shows almost the same values as the resistivity of the saturated soil (15-20 O.m). Consequently, the change in water content expressed in the electrical resistivity is difficult to identify. Therefore the extension of the concept of resistivity to Induced Polarization (IP) (both in the time and spectral domains) is proposed in order to better understand the relationships between physical and hydro(geo)logical properties of the slope material. To understand the landslide triggering mechanisms, surface and in-depth deformation have to be monitored. Up to now, most of the landslides monitoring sites are equipped with GNSS receivers and total station benchmarks at the surface or inclinometers at depths, which provide only point (1D) information and/or have limitations at high displacement rates. To solve interpretation ambiguities and to account for spatial changes, not only point information, but also horizontally and vertically (borehole) distributed displacement/strain observations are necessary. New approaches are suggested in the project, namely temperature and strain monitoring at high frequency with Fiber-Optic (FO) cables both at the surface and in boreholes, sensing of surface deformation with Ultra-High Resolution (UHR, 20 cm) optical images (time-lapse ground based cameras). The combined application of these methods for landslide monitoring is very rare and has not been tested rigorously. Further, the joint interpretation of electrical resistivity, soil temperature, hydrological and strain data need to be supported by coupled multi-physical modelling in order to quantitatively establish petrophysical relationships for several slope configurations, material properties and groundwater conditions. The applicability of the approach will be evaluated at three landslide sites representative of different hydrological forcings: La Valette (South French Alps; Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), Lodève (South Central Massif, Hérault) and Ampflwang/Hausruckwald (Oberösterreich).

We aim to contribute to the European Green Deal, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Horizon Europe objectives through the development of a Geological Service for Europe, which focuses on the planet itself: the earth beneath our feet. The subsurface holds indispensable resources for European industries and opportunities to decarbonise our economy, but also requires careful management to preserve a healthy and safe living environment for Europe’s citizens. Structurally addressing the EU dimension in geological services is needed because the scale of many societally and economically relevant geological features exceeds that of individual countries. Addressing transnational and continental-scale problems requires innovation, standardisation, harmonisation as well as a shared vision. We aim to build the Geological Service for Europe based on Europe’s best practices and implement the Service with the backing of the Union. Existing geological surveys, the national custodians of geological information, have amassed huge legacies of data and information that are difficult to merge. This project will continue the harmonisation and standardisation effort initiated in earlier projects. We aim to create joint services that can support acceleration of the energy and climate transitions, as well as a larger critical mass of intra-European cooperation through convergence of our research agendas, as key steps to increase the amount and quality of results we are aiming for. A common thread in this project is innovation in ways in which subsurface information is conceptualised, organised, visualised, delivered and translated to the needs of a wide range of audiences, and the methodologies to achieve this. Building on the groundwork laid in the GeoERA program, we will scale up and out, not only scientifically, but also in involving national stakeholders in the network, in order to create support and eventually obtain a mandate for a European Service on a permanent basis.

Renewable hydrogen combined with large scale underground storage enables transportation of energy through time, balancing out the impacts of variable renewable energy production. While storing pure hydrogen in salt caverns has been practiced since the 70s in Europe, it has never been carried out anywhere in depleted fields or aquifers. Technical developments are needed to validate these two solutions. As subsurface technical feasibility studies for a future hydrogen storage in depleted field or aquifer will be site-specific, as for other geology related activities, HyStories will provide developments applicable to a wide range of possible future sites: the addition of H2-storage relevant characteristics in reservoir databases at European scale; reservoir and geochemical modelling for cases representative of European subsurface, and tests of this representativeness by comparing it with results obtained with real storage sites models; and lastly an extensive sampling and microbiological lab experiment programme to cover a variety of possible conditions. Complementarily, techno-economic feasibility studies will provide insights into underground hydrogen storage for decision makers in government and industry. Modelling of the European energy system will first define the demand for hydrogen storage. Environmental and Societal impact studies will be developed. For a given location and hydrogen storage demand, a high-level cost assessment for development of each of the competing geological storage options at that location will be estimated, and the sites will be ranked based on techno-economic criteria developed within the project. Finally, several case studies will enable consideration of the implementation of potential projects, notably by considering their economic interest. This will provide substantial insight into the suitability for implementing such storage across EU and enable the proposition of an implementation plan.