Synthetic aperture radar interferometry is an imaging technique for measuring the topography of a surface, its changes over time, and other changes in the detailed characteristic of the surface. By exploiting the phase of the coherent radar signal, interferometry has transformed radar remote sensing from a largely interpretive science to a quantitative tool, with applications in cartography, geodesy, land cover characterization, and natural hazards. This paper reviews the techniques of interferometry, systems and limitations, and applications in a rapidly growing area of science and engineering.

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Synthetic aperture radar interferometry

Landslide hazard evaluation: a review of current techniques and their application in a multi-scale study, Central Italy

Landsliding in response to rainfall involves physical processes that operate on disparate timescales. Relationships between these timescales guide development of a mathematical model that uses reduced forms of Richards equation to evaluate effects of rainfall infiltration on landslide occurrence, timing, depth, and acceleration in diverse situations. The longest pertinent timescale is A/D0, where D0 is the maximum hydraulic diffusivity of the soil and A is the catchment area that potentially affects groundwater pressures at a prospective landslide slip surface location with areal coordinates x, y and depth H. Times greater than A/D0 are necessary for establishment of steady background water pressures that develop at (x, y, H) in response to rainfall averaged over periods that commonly range from days to many decades. These steady groundwater pressures influence the propensity for landsliding at (x, y, H), but they do not trigger slope failure. Failure results from rainfall over a typically shorter timescale H2/D0 associated with transient pore pressure transmission during and following storms. Commonly, this timescale ranges from minutes to months. The shortest timescale affecting landslide responses to rainfall is H/g, where g is the magnitude of gravitational acceleration. Postfailure landslide motion occurs on this timescale, which indicates that the thinnest landslides accelerate most quickly if all other factors are constant. Effects of hydrologic processes on landslide processes across these diverse timescales are encapsulated by a response function, R(t*) = t*/π exp (−1/t*) − erfc (1/t*), which depends only on normalized time, t*. Use of R(t*) in conjunction with topographic data, rainfall intensity and duration information, an infinite-slope failure criterion, and Newton's second law predicts the timing, depth, and acceleration of rainfall-triggered landslides. Data from contrasting landslides that exhibit rapid, shallow motion and slow, deep-seated motion corroborate these predictions.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2000WR900090

Landslide triggering by rain infiltration

A copy of Guangbo jiemu bao [Broadcast Program Report] was being passed from hand to hand among a group of young people eager to be the first to read the article introducing the program "What Is Revolutionary Love?" It said: "… Young friends, you are certainly very concerned about this problem'. So, we would like you to meet the young women workers Meng Xiaoyu and Meng Yamei and the older cadre Miss Feng. They are the three leading characters in the short story ‘The Place of Love.’ Through the description of the love lives of these three, the story induces us to think deeply about two questions that merit further examination.

This is How the Discussion Started

The application of GIS-based logistic regression for landslide susceptibility mapping in the Kakuda-Yahiko Mountains, Central Japan

In this paper, we have applied a quantitative risk assessment method to map cumulative risk levels arising from a number of hazardous installations located in Haldia, one of the industrial towns of India. The methodology consists of the following steps: frequency and consequences assessment of the select reference accident scearos; estimation of grid-level population distribution using a dasymetric interpolation approach; and finally risk estimation using both individual and societal risk metric. The risk maps were prepared in using common GIS tools and functions, and their sensitivity to various factors ascertained using uncertainty analysis techniques.

Is a QRA-based method suitable to guide Land Use Planning decisions in India?

Earth Observation for landslide hazard report

Selection of models for predicting landslides directly influences the accuracy of landslide prediction and is the key factor in landslide prediction.By using the geo-spatial data about landslides and related resulting factors in Alpago,Italy,the roles and applications of prediction rate of models for predicting landslides are discussed.Four models are used as examples including fuzzy gamma model(FGM),fuzzy algebraic product model(FAPM),fuzzy algebraic sum model(FASM) and fuzzy minimum model(FMM).Prediction rate is the cumulative distribution function of the area percentage of the landslides not used to construct a model with respect to the classes in the prediction map generated.By using the geographic information system(GIS),the prediction rate of a model can be calculated with the prediction map generated by the model and the landslide distribution data not used to construct the model.Based on the calculated prediction rates,the prediction abilities of the four models are compared and evaluated.The results show that the prediction rate of a model for predicting landslides is an indicator of the model characteristics;and that under the condition of defined input layers and specified landslides,the prediction rates of different models can be used as quantitative criteria for comparing,evaluating the models and for selecting the best one.

C.J. van Westen

Papers

Is a QRA-based method suitable to guide Land Use Planning decisions in India?

Earth Observation for landslide hazard report

Prediction rate of GIS - based models for predicting landslides and its applications

Bridging industrial risk management deficits in India using a Geo - ICT based tool

Development of the Caribbean handbook on disaster risk information management : extended abstract