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Landslides Mapped using Satellite Data in the Western Ghats of India After Excess Rainfall During August 2018


Affiliations
1 Geosciences Group, National Remote Sensing Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Hyderabad 500 037, India
 

Excess rainfall during August 2018 triggered numerous landslides in the Western Ghats region of India covering the states of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. These landslides caused widespread damage to property, loss of life and adversely affected various land resources. In this article, we present an inventory of landslide prepared from the analysis of multitemporal high-resolution images acquired before and after the rainfall event from Resourcesat-2, WorldView-2, GF-2, SPOT-6 and 7, Pleiades-1, Kompsat-3 and Sentinel-2 Earth observation satellites. A total of 6970 landslides with a cumulative area of 22.6 sq. km were mapped for this rainfall event. Majority of landslides have occurred in Kerala (5191), followed by Karnataka (993) and Tamil Nadu (606). Landslides are mostly debris slide and debris flow type with entrainment along the channels. Results show that landslides (83.2%) are triggered by very high rainfall. Also, very high rainfall has resulted in 14.9% of landslides even though slopes are moderate, mainly in the Kodagu district of Karnataka.

Keywords

Debris Flows, Disaster Response, Excess Rainfall, Landslides, Satellite Data.
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  • Landslides Mapped using Satellite Data in the Western Ghats of India After Excess Rainfall During August 2018

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Authors

Tapas R. Martha
Geosciences Group, National Remote Sensing Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Hyderabad 500 037, India
Priyom Roy
Geosciences Group, National Remote Sensing Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Hyderabad 500 037, India
Kirti Khanna
Geosciences Group, National Remote Sensing Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Hyderabad 500 037, India
K. Mrinalni
Geosciences Group, National Remote Sensing Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Hyderabad 500 037, India
K. Vinod Kumar
Geosciences Group, National Remote Sensing Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Hyderabad 500 037, India

Abstract


Excess rainfall during August 2018 triggered numerous landslides in the Western Ghats region of India covering the states of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. These landslides caused widespread damage to property, loss of life and adversely affected various land resources. In this article, we present an inventory of landslide prepared from the analysis of multitemporal high-resolution images acquired before and after the rainfall event from Resourcesat-2, WorldView-2, GF-2, SPOT-6 and 7, Pleiades-1, Kompsat-3 and Sentinel-2 Earth observation satellites. A total of 6970 landslides with a cumulative area of 22.6 sq. km were mapped for this rainfall event. Majority of landslides have occurred in Kerala (5191), followed by Karnataka (993) and Tamil Nadu (606). Landslides are mostly debris slide and debris flow type with entrainment along the channels. Results show that landslides (83.2%) are triggered by very high rainfall. Also, very high rainfall has resulted in 14.9% of landslides even though slopes are moderate, mainly in the Kodagu district of Karnataka.

Keywords


Debris Flows, Disaster Response, Excess Rainfall, Landslides, Satellite Data.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv117%2Fi5%2F804-812