2009 Jesusita Fire, Santa Barbara, California

Monitoring post-fire flash floods and debris flows

Rainfall on steep burned basins can quickly transform into potentially dangerous flash floods and debris flows. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), conducts detailed monitoring of the precipitation, runoff, and erosion within the 2009 Jesusita burn area above Santa Barbara, CA. This fire burned over 8000 acres in May 2009. The monitoring effort is intended to provide information from the "heart of the fire" to NOAA's National Weather Service for warning decision-making and to advance the understanding of post-fire runoff, erosion, and debris-flow generation processes.

This web page displays data being collected by a station monitoring channel runoff and erosion in a 0.022 km2 sub-basin of Mission Canyon.

Real Time Data

Data is transmitted from the site every four minutes and displayed on graphs:

• Rainfall
• Flow stage and Bed pore pressure
• Soil Moisture
• Battery

Other USGS real-time monitoring in the Jesusita burn area

• Hillslope monitoring above channel gage
• Stream gage on Mission Creek

For more information

• Post-Wildfire Landslide Hazards
• NOAA/USGS Demonstration Flash-flood and debris-flow early warning system
• Weather forecast for vicinity

Contact Information

• Jason Kean
  jwkean [at] usgs [dot] gov

• Dennis Staley
  dstaley [at] usgs [dot] gov

Mailing Address

U.S. Geological Survey
Geologic Hazards Team
Box 25046, MS 966
Denver, CO 80225