A heuristic approach to global landslide susceptibility mapping

Landslides can have significant and pervasive impacts to life and property around the world. Several attempts have been made to predict the geographic distribution of landslide activity at continental and global scales. These efforts shared common traits such as resolution, modeling approach, and explanatory variables. The lessons learned from prior research have been applied to build a new global susceptibility map from existing and previously unavailable data. Data on slope, faults, geology, forest loss, and road networks were combined using a heuristic fuzzy approach. The map was evaluated with a Global Landslide Catalog developed at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as well as several local landslide inventories. Comparisons to similar susceptibility maps suggest that the subjective methods commonly used at this scale are, for the most part, reproducible. However, comparisons of landslide susceptibility across spatial scales must take into account the susceptibility of the local subset relative to the larger study area. The new global landslide susceptibility map is intended for use in disaster planning, situational awareness, and for incorporation into global decision support systems.     

空间三维滑坡敏感性分区工具及其应用

对于滑坡敏感性分区目前有三种方法:定性法、统计法和基于岩土定量模型的确定性方法。定性法基于对滑坡敏感性或灾害评估的人为判断;统计法用一个来源于结合了权重因子的预测函数或指标;而确定性法,或者说是物理定量模型法以质量、能量和动量守恒定律为基础。二维确定性模型广泛用于土木工程设计,而无限边坡模型(一维)也用于滑坡灾害分区的确定性模型。文中提出了一个新的基于GIS(地理信息系统)的滑坡敏感性分区系统,这个系统可用于从复杂地形中确认可能的危险三维(3-D)滑坡体。所有与滑坡相关的空间数据(矢量或栅格数据)都被集成到这个系统中。通过把研究区域划分为边坡单元并假定初始滑动面是椭球的下半部分,并使用Monte Carlo随机搜索法,三维滑坡稳定性分析中的三维最危险滑面是三维安全系数最小的地方。使用近似方法假定有效凝聚力、有效摩擦角和三维安全系数服从正态分布,可以计算出滑坡失稳概率。3DSlopeGIS是一个计算机程序,它内嵌了GIS Developer kit(ArcObjects of ESRI)来实现GIS空间分析功能和有效的数据管理。应用此工具可以解决所有的三维边坡空间数据解问题。通过使用空间分析、数据管理和GIS的可视化功能来处理复杂的边坡数据,三维边坡稳定性问题很容易用一个友好的可视化图形界面来解决。将3DSlopeGIS系统应用到3个滑坡敏感性分区的实例中:第一个是一个城市规划项目,第二个是预测以往滑坡灾害对临近区域可能的影响,第三个则是沿着国家主干道的滑坡分区。基于足够次数的Monte Carlo模拟法,可以确认可能的最危险滑坡体。这在以往的传统边坡稳定性分析中是不可能的。     

A comparison of the GIS based landslide susceptibility assessment methods: multivariate versus bivariate

The purpose of this study is to evaluate and to compare the results of multivariate (logical regression) and bivariate (landslide susceptibility) methods in Geographical Information System (GIS) based landslide susceptibility assessment procedures. In order to achieve this goal the Asarsuyu catchment in NW Turkey was selected as a test zone because of its well-known landslide occurrences interfering with the E-5 highway mountain pass.Two methods were applied to the test zone and two separate susceptibility maps were produced. Following this a two-fold comparison scheme was implemented. Both methods were compared by the Seed Cell Area Indexes (SCAI) and by the spatial locations of the resultant susceptibility pixels.It was found that both of the methods converge in 80% of the area; however, the weighting algorithm in the bivariate technique (landslide susceptibility method) had some severe deficiencies, as the resultant hazard classes in overweighed areas did not converge with the factual landslide inventory map. The result of the multivariate technique (logical regression) was more sensitive to the different local features of the test zone and it resulted in more accurate and homogeneous susceptibility maps.     

A small-scale landslide susceptibility assessment for the territory of Western Carpathians

This study presented herein compares the bivariate and multivariate landslide susceptibility mapping methods and presents the landslide susceptibility map of the territory of Western Carpathians in small scale. This study also describes pioneer work for the territory of Western Carpathians, overreaching state borders, using verified sophisticated statistical methods. In the susceptibility mapping, digital elevation model was first constructed using a GIS software, and parameter maps affecting the slope stability such as geology, seismicity, precipitation, topographical elevation, slope angle, slope aspect and land cover were considered. In the last stage of the analyses, landslide susceptibility maps were produced using bivariate and multivariate analyses, and they were then compared by means of their validations. The validation of the bivariate analysis data was performed using the results of bivariate analysis for landslide areas of Slovakia containing five classes of susceptibility in scale 1:500,000. The validation area is the area of Western Carpathians within Slovakia. Eighty-two per cent of area does not differ in more than one class. The validation of the multivariate analysis data was performed using the results from the Kysuce region in the northern part of Slovakia in scale 1:10,000. The raster calculator was used to express the difference between each pair of pixels within these two layers. Seventy-seven per cent of the pixels do not differ in more than 25 %, 94 % of the pixels do not differ in more than 50 %. The maximal possible difference is 100 % (one pixel with value 0 and other with value 1, or vice versa). Receiver operating characteristic analysis was also performed, the area under curve value for bivariate model was calculated to be 0.735, while it was 0.823 for multivariate. The results of the validation can be considered as satisfactory.     

Evaluation and comparison of GIS based landslide susceptibility mapping procedures in Kulekhani watershed, Nepal

The goal of this paper is to evaluate and compare the consistency of GIS-based heuristic and bivariate landslide susceptibility mapping techniques in the Himalayan region, taking the Kulekhani watershed of central Nepal as an example. For this purpose, a heuristic and two statistical bivariate landslide susceptibility mapping methods are applied, and three separate landslide susceptibility zonation maps are produced. The maps are compared using three approaches: landslide density analysis, success rate analysis, and agreed area analysis. A comparison of the values obtained from landslide density analysis and the curves of success rate analysis indicate that the two bivariate methods produce almost identical results, whereas the map produced with the heuristic method differs significantly from the others. On the other hand, the agreed area analysis highlights significant spatial differences in the maps obtained from the three methods. Although the three approaches evaluate the consistency of susceptibility maps, only the agreed area analysis is capable of spatially comparing them. Hence, this approach proves to be more suitable for spatially and quantitatively evaluating the consistency of various landslide susceptibility zonation maps.     

基于斜坡单元和语义分割的皖南地区滑坡灾害易发性评估

滑坡灾害严重影响着人们的生命和财产安全,对自然环境造成重大破坏。以斜坡单元为单位进行滑坡易发性评估能够更加接近真实的滑坡地形,为滑坡灾害的防治提供更加科学的理论支持。本文以安徽省皖南地区为研究区,基于黄山、宣城、池州市滑坡点数据以及皖南地区基础地理数据,利用主成分分析和多重共线性分析方法筛选滑坡评价因子,提出将斜坡单元几何形状信息和语义分割方法相结合的创新方法,构建滑坡灾害易发性评估模型,对皖南地区的滑坡灾害易发性进行评估,揭示其空间分布规律。结果表明：结合斜坡单元和语义分割方法构建的滑坡易发性评估模型具有较高的预测精度,能够充分考虑斜坡单元的几何形状信息对滑坡易发性的影响,较为准确地评估皖南地区的滑坡易发性。评估结果符合滑坡形成机理,其中62.19%的滑坡单元分布在滑坡易发性等级中—高的斜坡单元上,模型预测AUC值为0.878,与缺少几何形状信息的CNN模型进行对比,预测精度明显提高。

     

Tier-based approaches for landslide susceptibility assessment in Europe

In the framework of the European Soil Thematic Strategy and the associated proposal of a Framework Directive on the protection and sustainable use of soil, landslides were recognised as a soil threat requiring specific strategies for priority area identification, spatial hazard assessment and management. This contribution outlines the general specifications for nested, Tier-based geographical landslide zonings at small spatial scales to identify priority areas susceptible to landslides (Tier 1) and to perform quantitative susceptibility evaluations within these (Tier 2). A heuristic, synoptic-scale Tier 1 assessment exploiting a reduced set of geoenvironmental factors derived from common pan-European data sources is proposed for the European Union and adjacent countries. Evaluation of the susceptibility estimate with national-level landslide inventory data suggests that a zonation of Europe according to, e.g. morphology and climate, and performing separate susceptibility assessments per zone could give more reliable results. To improve the Tier 1 assessment, a geomorphological terrain zoning and landslide typology differentiation are then applied for France. A multivariate landslide susceptibility assessment using additional information on landslide conditioning and triggering factors, together with a historical catalogue of landslides, is proposed for Tier 2 analysis. An approach is tested for priority areas in Italy using small administrative mapping units, allowing for relating socioeconomic census data with landslide susceptibility, which is mandatory for decision making regarding the adoption of landslide prevention and mitigation measures. The paper concludes with recommendations on further work to harmonise European landslide susceptibility assessments in the context of the European Soil Thematic Strategy.     

基于斜坡单元与随机森林模型的元阳县崩滑地质灾害易发性评价

针对基于栅格单元与定性定量方法模型在地质灾害易发性评价中存在模型预测精度低且使用较为频繁的不足与弊端,采用斜坡单元与机器学习方法之一的随机森林模型相结合开展元阳县崩滑地质灾害易发性评价。在ArcGIS中,利用曲率分水岭法划分出7851个斜坡单元。经过大量统计研究与地质环境条件分析,选取工程地质岩组、地貌类型、高程、坡度、坡向、曲率、起伏度、河流距离、断层距离等9个因子作为评价指标,并通过SPSS软件,将9个评价指标与灾点发育特征的关系进行数据分析,得出各评价指标权重。在SPSS中,采用随机森林模型,建立易发性评价模型,将元阳县崩滑地质灾害易发性划分为低、中、高、极高4类,所占面积分别为410.06 km2、470.21 km2、550.02 km2和776.87 km2,分别占元阳县面积的18.58%、21.30%、24.92%和35.20%。经与详查结果对比,评价结果与实际高度吻合。利用ROC曲线得出区划结果精度AUC值为92.7%,区划结果相当好。研究显示,元阳县中部和西南两个部分地质灾害集中,易发性极高。     

National-scale data-driven rainfall induced landslide susceptibility mapping for China by accounting for incomplete landslide data

China is one of the countries where landslides caused the most fatalities in the last decades.The threat that landslide disasters pose to people might even be greater in the future,due to climate change and the increasing urbanization of mountainous areas.A reliable national-scale rainfall induced landslide suscep-tibility model is therefore of great relevance in order to identify regions more and less prone to landslid-ing as well as to develop suitable risk mitigating strategies.However,relying on imperfect landslide data is inevitable when modelling landslide susceptibility for such a large research area.The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of incomplete landslide data on national scale statistical landslide susceptibility modeling for China.In this context,it is aimed to explore the benefit of mixed effects mod-elling to counterbalance associated bias propagations.Six influencing factors including lithology,slope,soil moisture index,mean annual precipitation,land use and geological environment regions were selected based on an initial exploratory data analysis.Three sets of influencing variables were designed to represent different solutions to deal with spatially incomplete landslide information:Set 1(disregards the presence of incomplete landslide information),Set 2(excludes factors related to the incompleteness of landslide data),Set 3(accounts for factors related to the incompleteness via random effects).The vari-able sets were then introduced in a generalized additive model(GAM:Set 1 and Set 2)and a generalized additive mixed effect model(GAMM:Set 3)to establish three national-scale statistical landslide suscep-tibility models:models 1,2 and 3.The models were evaluated using the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve(AUROC)given by spatially explicit and non-spatial cross-validation.The spatial pre-diction pattern produced by the models were also investigated.The results show that the landslide inven-tory incompleteness had a substantial impact on the outcomes of the statistical landslide susceptibility models.The cross-validation results provided evidence that the three established models performed well to predict model-independent landslide information with median AUROCs ranging from 0.8 to 0.9.However,although Model 1 reached the highest AUROCs within non-spatial cross-validation(median of 0.9),it was not associated with the most plausible representation of landslide susceptibility.The Model 1 modelling results were inconsistent with geomorphological process knowledge and reflected a large extent the underlying data bias.The Model 2 susceptibility maps provided a less biased picture of landslide susceptibility.However,a lower predicted likelihood of landslide occurrence still existed in areas known to be underrepresented in terms of landslide data(e.g.,the Kuenlun Mountains in the northern Tibetan Plateau).The non-linear mixed-effects model(Model 3)reduced the impact of these biases best by introducing bias-describing variables as random effects.Among the three models,Model 3 was selected as the best national-scale susceptibility model for China as it produced the most plausible portray of rainfall induced landslide susceptibility and the highest spatially explicit predictive perfor-mance(median AUROC of spatial cross validation 0.84)compared to the other two models(median AUROCs of 0.81 and 0.79,respectively).We conclude that ignoring landslide inventory-based incomplete-ness can entail misleading modelling results and that the application of non-linear mixed-effect models can reduce the propagation of such biases into the final results for very large areas.     

Implementation of reconstructed geomorphologic units in landslide susceptibility mapping: the Melen Gorge (NW Turkey)

In the international literature, although considerable amount of publications on the landslide susceptibility mapping exist, geomorphology as a conditioning factor is still used in limited number of studies. Considering this factor, the purpose of this article paper is to implement the geomorphologic parameters derived by reconstructed topography in landslide susceptibility mapping. According to the method employed in this study, terrain is generalized by the contours passed through the convex slopes of the valleys that were formed by fluvial erosion. Therefore, slope conditions before landsliding can be obtained. The reconstructed morphometric and geomorphologic units are taken into account as a conditioning parameter when assessing landslide susceptibility. Two different data, one of which is obtained from the reconstructed DEM, have been employed to produce two landslide susceptibility maps. The binary logistic regression is used to develop landslide susceptibility maps for the Melen Gorge in the Northwestern part of Turkey. Due to the high correct classification percentages and spatial effectiveness of the maps, the landslide susceptibility map comprised the reconstructed morphometric parameters exhibits a better performance than the other. Five different datasets are selected randomly to apply proper sampling strategy for training. As a consequence of the analyses, the most proper outcomes are obtained from the dataset of the reconstructed topographical parameters and geomorphologic units, and lithological variables that are implemented together. Correct classification percentage and root mean square error (RMSE) values of the validation dataset are calculated as 86.28% and 0.35, respectively. Prediction capacity of the different datasets reveal that the landslide susceptibility map obtained from the reconstructed parameters has a higher prediction capacity than the other. Moreover, the landslide susceptibility map obtained from the reconstructed parameters produces logical results.     

Validation of an artificial neural network model for landslide susceptibility mapping

The aim of this study was to validate an artificial neural network model at Youngin, Janghung, and Boeun, Korea, using the geographic information system (GIS). The factors that influence landslide occurrence, such as the slope, aspect, curvature, and geomorphology of topography, the type, material, drainage, and effective thickness of soil, the type, diameter, age, and density of forest, distance from lineament, and land cover were either calculated or extracted from the spatial database and Landsat TM satellite images. Landslide susceptibility was analyzed using the landslide occurrence factors provided by the artificial neural network model. The landslide susceptibility analysis results were validated and cross-validated using the landslide locations as study areas. For this purpose, weights for each study area were calculated by the artificial neural network model. Among the nine cases, the best accuracy (81.36%) was obtained in the case of the Boeun-based Janghung weight, whereas the Janghung-based Youngin weight showed the worst accuracy (71.72%).     

基于斜坡单元的山区城镇滑坡灾害易发性评价：以康定为例

山区地质灾害易发性评价对城镇地质灾害风险管理具有重要意义。本文以康定市为例,以斜坡单元为最小评价单元,选取高程、坡度、坡向、曲率、工程地质岩组、距道路距离、距断裂距离、距水系距离和斜坡结构等9个滑坡影响因子,根据各因子滑坡面积比曲线与证据权值曲线的突变点,划分滑坡影响因子二级状态,并对各影响因子进行相关性分析,剔除相关性较高的距道路距离因子,在此基础上,采用证据权模型进行滑坡易发性评价。对已有治理工程的斜坡单元,本文尝试利用折减系数法对其易发性进行进一步评价。结合现场调查,将研究区滑坡易发性程度划分为：极高易发、高易发、中等易发、低易发。评价结果表明,自然工况下极高易发区主要位于康定市炉城镇以及研究区北侧二道桥村一带,高易发区主要位于雅拉河、折多河与瓦斯沟河谷两侧,对治理工程所在的斜坡单元进行折减后,极高易发区面积由11.21%降至8.42%,滑坡比率由4.03降低至2.3,研究结果符合实际情况,模型精度达77.8%。评价结果较好地反映了康定市区的滑坡易发性分布情况,可为城镇精细化评价提供一定的参考依据。

     

Back analysis of landslide susceptibility zonation mapping for the 2005 Kashmir earthquake: an assessment of the reliability of susceptibility zoning maps

The October 2005 earthquake triggered several thousand landslides in the Lesser Himalaya of Kashmir in northern Pakistan and India. Analyses of ASTER satellite imagery from 2001 were compared with a study undertaken in 2005; the results show the extent and nature of pre- and co-/post-seismic landsliding. Within a designated study area of ~2,250 km², the number of landslides increased from 369 in 2001 to 2,252 in October 2005. Assuming a balanced baseline landsliding frequency over the 4 years, most of the new landslides were likely triggered by the 2005 earthquake and its aftershocks. These landslides mainly happened in specific geologic formations, along faults, rivers and roads, and in shrubland/grassland and agricultural land. Preliminary results from repeat photographs from 2005 and 2006 after the snowmelt season reveal that much of the ongoing landsliding occurred along rivers and roads, and the extensive earthquake-induced fissuring. Although the susceptibility zoning success rate for 2001 was low, many of the co-/post-seismic landsliding in 2005 occurred in areas that had been defined as being potentially dangerous on the 2001 map. While most of the area in 2001 was (very) highly susceptible to future landsliding, most of the area in 2005 was only moderate to low susceptible, that is, most of the landsliding in 2005 actually occurred in the potentially dangerous areas on the 2001 map. This study supports the view that although susceptibility zoning maps represent a powerful tool in natural hazard management, caution is needed when developing and using such maps.     

A hybrid framework integrating physical model and convolutional neural network for regional landslide susceptibility mapping

Natural Hazards - Landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM) is critical for risk assessment and mitigation. Generalization ability and prediction uncertainty are the current challenges for LSM but...     

Comparing GIS-based support vector machine kernel functions for landslide susceptibility mapping

This study compares the predictive performance of GIS-based landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM) using four different kernel functions in support vector machines (SVMs). Nine possible causal criteria were considered based on earlier similar studies for an area in the eastern part of the Khuzestan province of southern Iran. Different models and the resulting landslide susceptibility maps were created using information on known landslide events from a landslide inventory dataset. The models were trained using landslide inventory dataset. A two-step accuracy assessment was implemented to validate the results and to compare the capability of each function. The radial basis function was identified as the most efficient kernel function for LSM with the resulting landslide susceptibility map showing the highest predictive accuracy, followed by the polynomial kernel function. According to the obtained results, it concluded that using SVMs can generally be considered to be an effective method for LSM while it demands careful consideration of kernel function. The results of the present research will also assist other researchers to select the best SVM kernel function to use for LSM.