Logistic models as a forecasting tool for snow avalanches in a cold maritime climate: northern Gaspésie,Québec,Canada

Snow avalanches are a major natural hazard for road users and infrastructure in northern Gaspésie. Over the past 11 years, the occurrence of nearly 500 snow avalanches on the two major roads servicing the area was reported. No management program is currently operational. In this study, we analyze the weather patterns promoting snow avalanche initiation and use logistic regression (LR) to calculate the probability of avalanche occurrence on a daily basis. We then test the best LR models over the 2012–2013 season in an operational forecasting perspective: Each day, the probability of occurrence (0–100%) determined by the model was classified into five classes avalanche danger scale. Our results show that avalanche occurrence along the coast is best predicted by 2 days of accrued snowfall [in water equivalent (WE)], daily rainfall, and wind speed. In the valley, the most significant predictive variables are 3 days of accrued snowfall (WE), daily rainfall, and the preceding 2 days of thermal amplitude. The large scree slopes located along the coast and exposed to strong winds tend to be more reactive to direct snow accumulation than the inner-valley slopes. Therefore, the probability of avalanche occurrence increases rapidly during a snowfall. The slopes located in the valley are less responsive to snow loading. The LR models developed prove to be an efficient tool to forecast days with high levels of snow avalanche activity. Finally, we discuss how road maintenance managers can use this forecasting tool to improve decision making and risk rendering on a daily basis.     

四川泸定MS6.8级地震诱发崩滑灾害快速评估

强震诱发崩滑灾害可严重加剧地震灾害损失,快速评估地震诱发崩滑分布对于应急救灾工作部署具有重要意义。利用2022年9月5日泸定M_S6.8级地震震前30 m分辨率地形数据结合1∶50万比例尺地质图,采用Newmark累积位移方法开展了泸定地震诱发崩滑灾害快速评估。结果显示：(1)地震诱发崩滑灾害较为严重,崩滑高危险区面积约为45 km²,主要分布在鲜水河断裂以西大渡河西岸近东西向支沟两岸,其中以燕子沟、磨子沟、海螺沟、飞水沟、湾东河、什月河、田湾河等崩滑危险性较高,对沟内居民及游客生命安全威胁较大,沟内公路受崩滑阻断风险较高,局部河道有被崩滑堵塞风险;(2)泸定县冷碛镇、兴隆镇、磨西镇、得妥乡等4个乡镇及石棉县田湾乡、草科乡、新民乡、先锋乡、蟹螺乡、挖角乡等6个乡镇崩滑危险性较高;(3)震中附近地区大渡河沿线省道S434和S211受崩滑阻断可能性较大;(4)贡嘎雪山一带预测地震崩滑危险性为中等,但需关注冰崩型、岩崩型高位远程灾害(链)风险。通过与震后应急排查、遥感解译等获取的地震Ⅷ度、Ⅸ度区内发生的崩滑分布对比,表明在大渡河西岸各支沟滑坡位移分析...     

Deterministic strong ground motion study for the Sitamarhi area near Bihar–Nepal region

We explore the challenges of avalanche and debris flow hazard assessment for urban areas exposed in the Sakhalin region. Avalanches are a threat to more than 60 settlements in the region and debris flows to more than 30. Data are provided for avalanche and debris flow events that occurred in the Sakhalin region between 1928 and 2015. In this paper, the method for the design of hazard maps for snow avalanches and debris flows is described, providing the starting point for any planning constraints in general settlement planning schemes. These maps further allow conducting an assessment of avalanche and debris flow risk within a short time period for a larger territory and at minimum cost.     

滑坡灾害空间区划及GIS应用研究

滑坡灾害空间区划研究是当前国内外滑坡领域的重要研究方向之一。虽然滑坡灾害的发生具有随机性的特点 ,但其发生的区域性和重复性特点则是区域滑坡分布与发生的总体规律。从减灾与土地规划的角度 ,开展滑坡灾害空间区划研究具有十分重要的理论和实际意义。文中重点探讨了滑坡灾害空间区划的理论体系、灾害风险评估的基本术语定义及GIS制图的基本原理 ,采用MAPGIS软件为平台及其二次开发的滑坡灾害信息分析系统 ,在中国滑坡重灾害的汉江流域开展了灾害危险性空间区划应用研究。     

Large-scale assessment of avalanche and debris flow hazards in the Sakhalin region,Russian Federation

We explore the challenges of avalanche and debris flow hazard assessment for urban areas exposed in the Sakhalin region. Avalanches are a threat to more than 60 settlements in the region and debris flows to more than 30. Data are provided for avalanche and debris flow events that occurred in the Sakhalin region between 1928 and 2015. In this paper, the method for the design of hazard maps for snow avalanches and debris flows is described, providing the starting point for any planning constraints in general settlement planning schemes. These maps further allow conducting an assessment of avalanche and debris flow risk within a short time period for a larger territory and at minimum cost.

     

A conceptual model of avalanche hazard

This conceptual model of avalanche hazard identifies the key components of avalanche hazard and structures them into a systematic, consistent workflow for hazard and risk assessments. The method is applicable to all types of avalanche forecasting operations, and the underlying principles can be applied at any scale in space or time. The concept of an avalanche problem is introduced, describing how different types of avalanche problems directly influence the assessment and management of the risk. Four sequential questions are shown to structure the assessment of avalanche hazard, namely: (1) What type of avalanche problem(s) exists? (2) Where are these problems located in the terrain? (3) How likely is it that an avalanche will occur? and (4) How big will the avalanche be? Our objective was to develop an underpinning for qualitative hazard and risk assessments and address this knowledge gap in the avalanche forecasting literature. We used judgmental decomposition to elicit the avalanche forecasting process from forecasters and then described it within a risk-based framework that is consistent with other natural hazards disciplines.     

基于SBAS-InSAR技术的成汶高速汶川段滑坡易发区选线研究

西南山区地质构造复杂导致大量的滑坡分布.为了科学有效的指导西南山区道路选线,提前规避地质灾害高风险,滑坡灾害早期识别必不可少.合成孔径雷达干涉测量(interferometric synthetic aperture radar,InSAR)技术因其全天候、多时相等特点被广泛应用于滑坡灾害的早期识别中.收集了87景Sentinel-1A降轨数据,利用差分干涉测量短基线集时序分析(small baseline subset interferometric synthetic aperture radar,SBAS-InSAR)技术对成汶高速路汶川段进行形变区的识别与分析,结果显示共识别出10处,经野外复核均为处于持续变形中的滑坡,有较好的一致性.根据早期识别结果,对3个比选方案进行综合对比分析,确定方案B为最优选择.SBAS-InSAR技术能有效识别山区公路潜在滑坡隐患区,为山区公路的准确选线提供科学依据.      

九寨沟地震生态敏感区评估与道路重建方案论证

九寨沟7.0级地震诱发大量地质灾害对九寨沟景区景观、生态和基础设施造成了较大破坏,景区公路沿线灾害频繁,公路受损严重,多处中断,其中五花海与熊猫海之间的老虎嘴路段因地形地质条件极其复杂,受损最为严重。在九寨沟生态极其敏感区进行恢复重建等工程活动中,仅靠地灾评估无法满足工程方案评价的需要,同时须考虑工程活动、地灾和生态之间的相互影响。本文首次结合地灾风险评估,建立了生态敏感区的生态风险评估标准,在对九寨沟老虎嘴路段联合进行地灾评估和生态风险评估的基础上,对该路段道路恢复重建方案进行了评价论证,最终确定道路恢复重建方案。     

Global landslide and avalanche hotspots

Allocating resources for natural hazard risk management has high priority in development banks and international agencies working in developing countries. Global hazard and risk maps for landslides and avalanches were developed to identify the most exposed countries. Based on the global datasets of climate, lithology, earthquake activity, and topography, areas with the highest hazard, or “hotspots”, were identified. The applied model was based on classed values of all input data. The model output is a landslide and avalanche hazard index, which is globally scaled into nine levels. The model results were calibrated and validated in selected areas where good data on slide events exist. The results from the landslide and avalanche hazard model together with global population data were then used as input for the risk assessment. Regions with the highest risk can be found in Colombia, Tajikistan, India, and Nepal where the estimated number of people killed per year per 100 km² was found to be greater than one. The model made a reasonable prediction of the landslide hazard in 240 of 249 countries. More and better input data could improve the model further. Future work will focus on selected areas to study the applicability of the model on national and regional scales.     

Data-driven mapping of avalanche release areas: a case study in South Tyrol, Italy

Avalanche hazard and risk mapping is of utmost importance in mountain areas in Europe and elsewhere. Advanced methods have been developed to describe several aspects of avalanche hazard assessment, such as the dynamics of snow avalanches or the intensity of snowfall to assume as a reference meteorological forcing. However, relatively little research has been conducted on the identification of potential avalanche release areas. In this paper, we present a probabilistic assessment of potential avalanche release areas in the Italian Autonomous Province of Bolzano, eastern Alps, using the Weights of Evidence and Logistic Regression methods with commonly available GIS datasets. We show that a data-driven statistical model performs better than simple, although widely adopted, screening criteria that were proposed in the past, although the complexity of observed release areas is only partly captured by the model. In the best case, the model enables predicting about 70 % of avalanches in the 20 % of area classified at highest hazard. Based on our results, we suggest that probabilistic identification of potential release areas could provide a useful aid in the screening of sites for subsequent, more detailed hazard assessment.     

三峡引水工程秦巴段主要地质灾害及其工程影响

为了研究三峡引水工程秦巴段的地表地质灾害特征及其工程影响,本文在简要分析秦巴山地区域工程地质条件和线路工程地质条件的基础上,重点分析秦巴山区典型地质灾害分布特征及其对引水工程的影响,初步揭示:(1)秦巴山区浅表层地质灾害具有类型多、成群带分布、规模大小差异明显;(2)秦巴山区地质灾害形成发展的主要影响因素是构造地貌、高陡边坡、斜坡结构和易滑地层组合,主要诱发因素为局部集中强降雨和线性工程（主要是公路）切坡及河流冲蚀作用;(3)地表地质灾害主要影响引水设施施工安全、施工便道、主要场地（水库和渡槽）等的安全,需要引起重视。     

公路建设用地地质灾害危险性评估实践与认识——以湖北襄-十高速公路襄武段为例

文章以湖北省襄-十高速公路襄樊至武当山段为例，提出了建设用地地质灾害危险性评估范围、评估重点的确定方法，就地质灾害危险性的涵义展开讨论并给出了明确定义。结合工程实践，对现状评估、预测评估与综合评估的要点、方法展开论述，提出高速公路地质灾害危险性等级划分标准，同时提出以防灾工程投入比大小评估建设用地土地适宜性的量化指标，并对存在的主要问题提出相应建议。     

A Portfolio Approach to Evaluating Natural Hazard Mitigation Policies: An Application to Lateral-Spread Ground Failure in Coastal California

In the past, efforts to prevent catastrophic losses from natural hazards have largely been undertaken by individual property owners based on site—specific evaluations of risks to particular buildings. Public efforts to assess community vulnerability and encourage mitigation have focused on either aggregating site—specific estimates or adopting standards based upon broad assumptions about regional risks. This paper develops an alternative, intermediate—scale approach to regional risk assessment and the evaluation of community mitigation policies. Properties are grouped into types with similar land uses and levels of hazard, and hypothetical community mitigation strategies for protecting these properties are modeled like investment portfolios. The portfolios consist of investments in mitigation against the risk to a community posed by a specific natural hazard. and are defined by a community's mitigation budget and the proportion of the budget invested in locations of each type.

The usefulness of this approach is demonstrated through an integrated assessment of earthquake—induced lateral—spread ground failure risk in the Watsonville, California area. Data from the magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989 are used to model lateral—spread ground failure susceptibility. Earth science and economic data are combined and analyzed in a Geographic Information System (CIS). The portfolio model is then used to evaluate the benefits of mitigating the risk in different locations. Two mitigation policies, one that prioritizes mitigation by land use type and the other by hazard zone, are compared with a status quo policy of doing no further mitigation beyond that which already exists. The portfolio representing the hazard zone rule yields a higher expected return than the land use portfolio does; however, the hazard zone portfolio experiences a higher standard deviation. Therefore, neither portfolio is clearly preferred. The two mitigation policies both reduce expected losses and increase overall expected community wealth compared to the status quo policy.     

Integration of statistical and heuristic approaches for landslide risk analysis: a case of volcanic mountains in West Java Province,Indonesia

Owing to fragile geo-morphology, extreme climatic conditions, and densely populated settlements and rapid development activities, West Java Province is the most landslide hazardous area in Indonesia. So, a landslide risk map for this province bears a great importance such as for land-use planning. It is however widely accepted that landslide risk analysis is often difficult because of the difficulties involved in landslide hazard assessment and estimation of consequences of future landslide events. For instance, lack of multi-temporal inventory map or records of triggering events is often a major problem in landslide hazard mapping. In this study, we propose a simple technique for converting a landslide susceptibility map into a landslide hazard map, which we have employed for landslide risk analysis in one ideally hazardous part of volcanic mountains in West Java Province. The susceptibility analysis was carried out through correlation between past landslides and eight spatial parameters related to instability, i.e. slope, aspect, relative relief, distance to river, geological units, soil type, land use and distance to road. The obtained susceptibility map was validated using cross-time technique, and was collaborated with the frequency-area statistics to respond to ‘when landslide will occur’ and ‘how large it will be’. As for the judgment of the consequences of future landslides, expert opinion was used considering available literature and characteristic of the study area. We have only considered economic loss in terms of physical damage of buildings, roads and agricultural lands for the landslide risk analysis. From this study, we understand the following: (1) the hazard map obtained from conversion of the susceptibility map gives spatial probability and the area of an expected landslide will be greater than 500m² in the next 2 years, (2) the landslide risk map shows that 24% of the total area is in high risk; 30% in moderate risk; 45% in low risk and no risk covers only 1% of the total area, and (3) the loss will be high in agricultural lands, while it will be low in the road structures and buildings.     

从土地利用规划入手提高地质灾害的防治水平——兼议地质灾害风险区划的急迫性与重要性

国际减灾战略已从场地尺度工程性“硬”措施转向区域土地规划限制等“软”措施,即通过土地利用规划手段来限制土地开发行为,这是防范地质灾害最有效的手段。从土地利用规划和土地审批的法律地位、地质灾害填图与区划的公益性基础工作和实施地质灾害风险带土地开发限制管理等方面介绍了国际经验,并提出中国开展土地利用规划预防地质灾害的具体建议。     

Multilayer-exposure maps as a basis for a regional vulnerability assessment for landslides: applied in Waidhofen/Ybbs,Austria

Assessments of natural hazards and risks are beneficial for sustainable planning and natural hazard risk management. On a regional scale, quantitative hazard and risk assessments are data intensive and methods developed are difficult to transfer to other regions and to analyse different periods in a given region. Such transfers could be beneficial regarding factors of global change influencing the patterns of natural hazard and risk. The aim of this study was to show the landslide exposure of different elements at risk in one map, e.g. residential buildings and critical infrastructure, as a solid basis for an in-depth analysis of vulnerability and consequent risk. This enables to overcome the data intensive assessments on a regional scale and highlights the potential hotspots for risk analysis. The study area is located in the alpine foreland in Lower Austria and comprises around 112 km². The results show the different levels of exposure, as well as how many layers of elements at risk are affected. Several exposure hotspots can be delineated throughout the study area. This allows a decision on in-depth analysis of hotspots not only by indicated locations but also by a rank resulting from the different layers of incorporated elements at risk.     

Describing the severity of avalanche terrain numerically using the observed terrain selection practices of professional guides

The physical risk from snow avalanches poses a serious threat to mountain backcountry travelers. Avalanche risk is primarily managed by (1) assessing avalanche hazard through analysis of the local weather, snowpack, and recent avalanche activity and (2) selecting terrain that limits exposure to the identified hazard. Professional ski guides have a tremendous wealth of knowledge about using terrain to manage avalanche risk, but their expertise is tacit, which makes it difficult for them to explicitly articulate the underlying decision rules. To make this existing expertise more broadly accessible, this study examines whether it is possible to derive quantitative measures for avalanche terrain severity and condition-dependent terrain guidance directly from observed terrain selection of professional guides. We equipped lead guides at Mike Wiegele Helicopter Skiing with GPS tracking units during the 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 winters creating a dataset of 10,592 high-resolution tracked ski runs. We used four characteristics—incline, vegetation, down-slope curvature (convexities/concavities), and cross-slope curvature (gullies/ridges)—to describe the skied terrain and employed a mixed-effects ordered logistic regression model to examine the relationship between the character of most severe avalanche terrain skied on a day and the associated field-validated avalanche hazard ratings. Patterns in the regression parameter estimates reflected the existing understanding of how terrain is selected to manage avalanche risk well: the guides skied steeper, less dense vegetation, and more convoluted slopes during times of lower avalanche hazard. Avalanche terrain severity scores derived from the parameter estimates compared well to terrain previously zoned according to the Avalanche Terrain Exposure Scale. Using a GIS implementation of the regression analysis, we created avalanche condition-dependent maps that provide insights into what type of terrain guides deemed acceptable for skiing under different avalanche hazard conditions. These promising results highlight the potential of tracking guides’ terrain selection decisions as they manage avalanche hazard for the development of evidence-based avalanche terrain ratings and decision aids for professional and recreational backcountry travelers.     

Assessment of potential sediment disasters and resilience management of mountain roads using environmental indicators

In recent years, extreme rainfall events occur frequently, causing serious watershed sediment disasters, destroying mountain roads, and endangering the safety of residents' lives and property. This study aims to deal with the spatial change of potential sediment movement on the road slope pre-disaster and to screen disaster hot spots for early warning and control system. The conceptual model is used to simulate the distribution of primary and/or derived disasters on a watershed scale to assess the impact of sediment disasters caused by heavy rain event. Correlation analysis shows that the models in assessment of primary disaster and derived disaster are significantly correlated with the collapse ratio and disaster ratio, respectively. Since the primary disaster has been considered when calculating the derived disaster risk, the terrain subdivision along Provincial Highway 21 (Tai-21) is extracted to understand the derived sediment disaster on the road slope. The model can effectively evaluate the road sections prone to disasters. According to the risk level, the hot spot of road slope disasters and the management of disaster resilience are determined and can be the reference for disaster prevention and control.

     

Economic risk maps of floods and earthquakes for European regions

Europe experiences different natural hazards and subsequent risks that have various effects on the development of its regions. The spatial significance of hazards can be expressed as an economic risk when combining hazard potential with vulnerability data. Two examples of European natural hazard maps on floods and earthquakes, as well as the resulting risk profiles of regions (combination of hazard potential and vulnerability) give a first impression on the spatial characters of hazards in Europe and their potential impact on further spatial development. The economic risk maps enable a view on the spatial dimension of the economic damage potential of flood and earthquakes, pointing out comparable situations across Europe with the aim to facilitate targeted responses and policies. The spatial character of a hazard is either defined by spatial effects that might occur in case of a disaster or by the possibility of spatial planning responses. The integration of the economic vulnerability of a region (regional GDP per capita, population density) leads to a classification of areas according to their economic risk or damage potential towards hazards. These synthetic risk profiles are presented as risk maps of European regions in administrative boundaries. Obtained information can be of interest for spatial planning and development strategies, e.g. economic risk profile of regions can influence the targets of investments and could thus be an important background for structural funding.     

秦岭中部太白县地质灾害发育特征及危险性评估

以陕西省太白县为例,分析了秦岭中部山区地质灾害形成的地质环境条件,重点指出在植被茂密山区,异常强降雨及农耕、建房、修路和矿山开采4种人类工程活动对地质灾害的关键诱发作用。对崩塌、滑坡、泥石流和不稳定斜坡4类典型地质灾害进行了亚类细分和发育特征分析,并总结指出了地质灾害区域宏观分布特征。筛选了9种关键的地质灾害影响和诱发因素,基于将集中调查区指示的地质灾害发育规律,外推应用于全区地质灾害评估的思路,利用信息量模型对太白县全区进行了地质灾害危险性定量评估,结果显示高危险区主要集中分布在县域北部人口聚居的盆地区,以及南部河流与公路沿线地段。定量检验显示,危险性评估结果与地质灾害的实际分布十分吻合,表明基于信息量模型的地质灾害危险性评估方法能够很好地适用于秦岭腹地山区。