Relationships among remotely sensed soil moisture, precipitation and landslide events
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.
Department
Earth Systems Research Center
Publication Date
11-1-2007
Journal Title
Natural Hazards
Publisher
Springer
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Document Type
Article
Recommended Citation
Ray, R. and J.M. Jacobs. 2007. Relationships among remotely sensed soil moisture, precipitation and landslide events. Natural Hazards Journal. 43, 211-222. DOI 10.1007/sl11069-006-9059-9.
Rights
© Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2007