Entering the Era of Earth Observation-Based Landslide Warning Systems: A novel and exciting framework

Landslide early warning remains a grand challenge due to the high human cost of catastrophic landslides globally and the difficulty of identifying a diverse range of landslide triggering factors. There have been only a very limited number of success stories to date. However, recent advances in earth observation (EO) from ground, aircraft and space have dramatically improved our ability to detect and monitor active landslides and a growing body of geotechnical theory suggests that prefailure behavior can provide clues to the location and timing of impending catastrophic failures. In this paper, we use two recent landslides in China as case studies, to demonstrate that (i) satellite radar observations can be used to detect deformation precursors to catastrophic landslide occurrence, and (ii) early warning can be achieved with real-time in-situ observations. A novel and exciting framework is then proposed to employ EO technologies to build an operational landslide early warning system.This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grants 41801391, 41874005, and 41929001; the National Science Fund for Outstanding Young Scholars of China under grant 41622206; the Fund for International Cooperation under grant NSFCRCUK_NERC; Resilience to Earthquake-Induced Landslide Risk in China under grant 41661134010; the open fund of State Key Laboratory of Geodesy and Earth’s Dynamics (SKLGED2018-5-3-E); Sichuan Science and Technology Plan Project under grant 2019YJ0404; State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection Independent Research Project under grant SKLGP2018Z019; the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, the State Agency of Research, and the European Funds for Regional Development under projects TEC2017-85244-C2-1-P and TIN2014-55413-C2-2-P; and the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport under project PRX17/00439. This work was also partially supported by the U.K. Natural Environment Research Council through the Center for the Observation and Modeling of Earthquakes, Volcanoes, and Tectonics under come30001 and the Looking Inside the Continents From Space and Community Earthquake Disaster Risk Reduction in China projects under NE/K010794/1 and NE/N012151/1, respectively, and by the European Space Agency through the ESA-MOST DRAGON-4 project (32244 [4]). Roland Bürgmann acknowledges support by the NASA Earth Surface and Interior focus area

ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 Calibration, Validation, Science and Applications

Twelve edited original papers on the latest and state-of-art results of topics ranging from calibration, validation, and science to a wide range of applications using ALOS-2/PALSAR-2. We hope you will find them useful for your future research

Novel Approaches in Landslide Monitoring and Data Analysis

Significant progress has been made in the last few years that has expanded the knowledge of landslide processes. It is, therefore, necessary to summarize, share and disseminate the latest knowledge and expertise. This Special Issue brings together novel research focused on landslide monitoring, modelling and data analysis

Remote Sensing of Environmental Changes in Cold Regions

This Special Issue gathers papers reporting recent advances in the remote sensing of cold regions. It includes contributions presenting improvements in modeling microwave emissions from snow, assessment of satellite-based sea ice concentration products, satellite monitoring of ice jam and glacier lake outburst floods, satellite mapping of snow depth and soil freeze/thaw states, near-nadir interferometric imaging of surface water bodies, and remote sensing-based assessment of high arctic lake environment and vegetation recovery from wildfire disturbances in Alaska. A comprehensive review is presented to summarize the achievements, challenges, and opportunities of cold land remote sensing

Advances in Methane Production from Coal, Shale and Other Tight Rocks

This collection reports on the state of the art in fundamental discipline application in hydrocarbon production and associated challenges in geoengineering activities. Zheng et al. (2022) report an NMR-based method for multiphase methane characterization in coals. Wang et al. (2022) studied the genesis of bedding fractures in Ordovician to Silurian marine shale in the Sichuan basin. Kang et al. (2022) proposed research focusing on the prediction of shale gas production from horizontal wells. Liang et al. (2022) studied the pore structure of marine shale by adsorption method in terms of molecular interaction. Zhang et al. (2022) focus on the coal measures sandstones in the Xishanyao Formation, southern Junggar Basin, and the sandstone diagenetic characteristics are fully revealed. Yao et al. (2022) report the source-to-sink system in the Ledong submarine channel and the Dongfang submarine fan in the Yinggehai Basin, South China Sea. There are four papers focusing on the technologies associated with hydrocarbon productions. Wang et al. (2022) reported the analysis of pre-stack inversion in a carbonate karst reservoir. Chen et al. (2022) conducted an inversion study on the parameters of cascade coexisting gas-bearing reservoirs in coal measures in Huainan. To ensure the safety CCS, Zhang et al (2022) report their analysis of available conditions for InSAR surface deformation monitoring. Additionally, to ensure production safety in coal mines, Zhang et al. (2022) report the properties and application of gel materials for coal gangue control

Book of short Abstracts of the 11th International Symposium on Digital Earth

The Booklet is a collection of accepted short abstracts of the ISDE11 Symposium

Mechanisms of strain localisation in the lithosphere

This thesis examines the development of shear-zone localisation in the continental lithosphere. I use non-Newtonian, viscous models to examine the controls on strain localisation with depth and on the development of horizontal shear-zones in regions away from strength contrasts. I show how the vertical extent of strain localisation is principally controlled by lithology and geothermal gradient, and how the horizontal extent of localisation is a consequence of strain-weakening and the geometry of strength contrasts. I explore how strain localisation develops from an initial isolated weak inclusion. The progress of strain localisation follows a power-law growth that is strongly non-linear. When applied to the rheological laws for common lithospheric minerals, the temperature and stress-dependence provide a direct means of predicting the depth below which localisation does not occur. I apply the calculations to four major continental strike-slip zones and find observations from seismic data agree with the calculations. Localisation to the base of the lithosphere is not supported by the calculations or the geophysical data. I use a model configured to resemble the India-Asia convergence that includes an isolated weak region within the Tibetan Plateau area and, in selected experiments,strong regions representing the Tarim and Sichuan Basins. I rotate a strong India region into a weaker Asia and observe the evolving strain. Shear zones develop adjacent and propagate outwards from the weak region. Where the Basins are present then high strain- rate zones develop adjacent to them and the overall distribution of strain within the model is altered. A high strain-weakening component enables shear-zones to localise. Micro-plate models assume the pre-existence of such high strain regions but I show how a continuum model can initiate and grow localised deformation within a region of generally diffuse deformation

Earth Resources: A continuing bibliography with indexes, Issue 35

This bibliography list 587 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information System between July 1, and September 30, 1982. Emphasis is placed on the use of remote sensing and geophysical instrumentation in spacecraft and aircraft to survey and inventory natural resources and urban areas. Subject matter is grouped according to agriculture and forestry, environmental changes and cultural resources, geodesy and cartography, geology and mineral resources, hydrology and water management, data processing and distribution systems, instrumentation and sensors, and economic analysis