Relationships among remotely sensed soil moisture, precipitation and landslide events

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Natural Hazards

Abstract

Landslides are triggered by earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, and heavy continuous rainfall. For most types of slope failure, soil moisture plays a critical role because increased pore water pressure reduces the soil strength and increases stress. However, in-situ soil moisture profiles are rarely measured. To establish the soil moisture and landslide relationship, a qualitative comparison among soil moisture derived from AMSR-E, precipitation from TRMM and major landslide events was conducted. This study shows that it is possible to estimate antecedent soil moisture conditions using AMSR-E and TRMM satellite data in landslide prone areas. AMSR-E data show distinct annual patterns of soil moisture that reflect observed rainfall patterns from TRMM. Results also show enhanced AMSR-E soil moisture and TRMM rainfall prior to major landslide events in landslide prone regions of California, U.S.; Leyte, Philippines; and Dhading, Nepal. © Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2007.

First Page

211

Last Page

222

DOI

10.1007/s11069-006-9095-9

Publication Date

11-1-2007

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