Development and operation of a muon detection system under extremely high humidity environment for monitoring underground water table

Abstract

In order to investigate the complex nature of landslides triggered by rainfall, dynamic muon radiography of the motion of the underground water table is planned in a drainage tunnel drilled underneath an estimated fault plane. However, the humidity inside the tunnel is almost 100%. In order to suppress moisture effects, a scintillation counter with Cockcroft–Walton photomultipler tubes (CW-MPT) was developed and tested at the observation site located in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The counter was stably operated for 38 days without gain degrading. Based on the result, we constructed a muon detection system with CW-PMTs at the same site and started operation runs. In this work, the data from borehole-based water gauge measurements of the underground water levels were analyzed and discussed. It was confirmed that the comparison between muon and borehole data would be useful.