A terrestrial laser scanning survey was conducted over the course of 1.5 years to test and validate a new target tracking method which characterizes the surface and subsurface behavior of soft slope landslides. Reflective spherical Styrofoam targets were mounted onto steel rods and driven into multiple levels of a landslide located in Stone County, Missouri. These targets were scanned a total of seventeen times over the course of the survey and were used as a proxy to measure the displacement of specific areas of the landslide. The three-dimensional point cloud data was processed through a software suite specifically developed to process data retrieved from reflective spherical targets. A geophysical survey was also conducted toward the later portion of the scanning survey to get a sense of what types of material were below the slide surface. On the final date of the survey, a basic surface map of the landslide was generated based on satellite imagery and physical observations at the slide site. All of these results were compiled and analyzed along with prior control and field tests to see if this new method was a feasible and accurate approach to tracking and predicting surface and subsurface landslide movement. While this approach and method is still relatively new, the results from the survey showed that the displacement of the landslide could be accurately measured and the movement of the landslide could be accurately tracked --Abstract, page iii
