Remote sensing for characterisation and kinematic analysis of large slope failures: Debre Sina landslide, Main Ethiopian Rift Escarpment

Jan Kropacek; Zuzana Varilova; Ivo Baron; Atanu Bhattacharya; Joachim Eberle; Volker Hochschild

doi:10.3390/rs71215821

Remote sensing for characterisation and kinematic analysis of large slope failures: Debre Sina landslide, Main Ethiopian Rift Escarpment

Jan Kropacek^*, Zuzana Varilova, Ivo Baron, Atanu Bhattacharya, Joachim Eberle, Volker Hochschild

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Geography & Sustainable Development

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Frequently occurring landslides in Ethiopia endanger rapidly expanding settlements and infrastructure. We investigated a large landslide on the western escarpment of the Main Ethiopian Rift close to Debre Sina. To understand the extent and amplitude of the movements, we derived vectors of horizontal displacements by feature matching of very high resolution satellite images (VHR). The major movements occurred in two phases, after the rainy seasons in 2005 and 2006 reaching magnitudes of 48 ± 10.1 m and 114 ± 7.2 m, respectively. The results for the first phase were supported by amplitude tracking using two Envisat/ASAR scenes from the 31 July 2004 and the 29 October 2005. Surface changes in vertical direction were analyzed by subtraction of a pre-event digital elevation model (DEM) from aerial photographs and post-event DEM from ALOS/PRISM triplet data. Furthermore, we derived elevation changes using satellite laser altimetry measurement acquired by the ICESat satellite. These analyses allowed us to delineate the main landslide, which covers an area of 6.5 km², shallow landslides surrounding the main landslide body that increased the area to 8.5 km², and the stable area in the lower part of the slope. We assume that the main triggering factor for such a large landslide was precipitation cumulated over several months and we suspect that the slope failure will progress towards the foot of the slope.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	16183-16203
Number of pages	21
Journal	Remote Sensing
Volume	7
Issue number	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/rs71215821
Publication status	Published - 2 Dec 2015

Keywords

Ethiopian rift
Tarmaber area
Debre Sina
large landslide
feature tracking
amplitude tracking
DEM differencing
ICESat

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Kropácek_2015_RS_Remotesensing_CC
Copyright © 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons by Attribution (CC-BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Final published version, 12.3 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{81d0b3a7531348c2b0cd77f9140eac3d,

title = "Remote sensing for characterisation and kinematic analysis of large slope failures: Debre Sina landslide, Main Ethiopian Rift Escarpment",

abstract = "Frequently occurring landslides in Ethiopia endanger rapidly expanding settlements and infrastructure. We investigated a large landslide on the western escarpment of the Main Ethiopian Rift close to Debre Sina. To understand the extent and amplitude of the movements, we derived vectors of horizontal displacements by feature matching of very high resolution satellite images (VHR). The major movements occurred in two phases, after the rainy seasons in 2005 and 2006 reaching magnitudes of 48 ± 10.1 m and 114 ± 7.2 m, respectively. The results for the first phase were supported by amplitude tracking using two Envisat/ASAR scenes from the 31 July 2004 and the 29 October 2005. Surface changes in vertical direction were analyzed by subtraction of a pre-event digital elevation model (DEM) from aerial photographs and post-event DEM from ALOS/PRISM triplet data. Furthermore, we derived elevation changes using satellite laser altimetry measurement acquired by the ICESat satellite. These analyses allowed us to delineate the main landslide, which covers an area of 6.5 km2, shallow landslides surrounding the main landslide body that increased the area to 8.5 km2, and the stable area in the lower part of the slope. We assume that the main triggering factor for such a large landslide was precipitation cumulated over several months and we suspect that the slope failure will progress towards the foot of the slope.",

keywords = "Ethiopian rift, Tarmaber area, Debre Sina, large landslide, feature tracking, amplitude tracking, DEM differencing, ICESat",

author = "Jan Kropacek and Zuzana Varilova and Ivo Baron and Atanu Bhattacharya and Joachim Eberle and Volker Hochschild",

note = "This study was carried out in the framework of the German Science Foundation (DFG) project “Integrated assessment of geomorphological process dynamics on different spatio-temporal scales in the Ethiopian Highlands using remote sensing and advanced modelling approaches” (HO1840/11-1) and the Czech Science Foundation (GA{\v C}R) project “Mass wasting and erosion as an indicator of morphotectonic activity in the Ethiopian Highlands based on remote sensing approaches” (P209/12/J068). The ALOS/PRISM data were provided by the ESA in the framework of the project ID13160. The aerial photographs were provided by the Ethiopian Mapping Agency. We would like to thank the Gesellschaft f{\"u}r Erd- und V{\"o}lkerkunde, Stuttgart, Germany for supporting the field campaign in 2015. ",

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doi = "10.3390/rs71215821",

language = "English",

volume = "7",

pages = "16183--16203",

journal = "Remote Sensing",

issn = "2072-4292",

publisher = "Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)",

number = "12",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Remote sensing for characterisation and kinematic analysis of large slope failures

T2 - Debre Sina landslide, Main Ethiopian Rift Escarpment

AU - Kropacek, Jan

AU - Varilova, Zuzana

AU - Baron, Ivo

AU - Bhattacharya, Atanu

AU - Eberle, Joachim

AU - Hochschild, Volker

N1 - This study was carried out in the framework of the German Science Foundation (DFG) project “Integrated assessment of geomorphological process dynamics on different spatio-temporal scales in the Ethiopian Highlands using remote sensing and advanced modelling approaches” (HO1840/11-1) and the Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) project “Mass wasting and erosion as an indicator of morphotectonic activity in the Ethiopian Highlands based on remote sensing approaches” (P209/12/J068). The ALOS/PRISM data were provided by the ESA in the framework of the project ID13160. The aerial photographs were provided by the Ethiopian Mapping Agency. We would like to thank the Gesellschaft für Erd- und Völkerkunde, Stuttgart, Germany for supporting the field campaign in 2015.

PY - 2015/12/2

Y1 - 2015/12/2

N2 - Frequently occurring landslides in Ethiopia endanger rapidly expanding settlements and infrastructure. We investigated a large landslide on the western escarpment of the Main Ethiopian Rift close to Debre Sina. To understand the extent and amplitude of the movements, we derived vectors of horizontal displacements by feature matching of very high resolution satellite images (VHR). The major movements occurred in two phases, after the rainy seasons in 2005 and 2006 reaching magnitudes of 48 ± 10.1 m and 114 ± 7.2 m, respectively. The results for the first phase were supported by amplitude tracking using two Envisat/ASAR scenes from the 31 July 2004 and the 29 October 2005. Surface changes in vertical direction were analyzed by subtraction of a pre-event digital elevation model (DEM) from aerial photographs and post-event DEM from ALOS/PRISM triplet data. Furthermore, we derived elevation changes using satellite laser altimetry measurement acquired by the ICESat satellite. These analyses allowed us to delineate the main landslide, which covers an area of 6.5 km2, shallow landslides surrounding the main landslide body that increased the area to 8.5 km2, and the stable area in the lower part of the slope. We assume that the main triggering factor for such a large landslide was precipitation cumulated over several months and we suspect that the slope failure will progress towards the foot of the slope.

AB - Frequently occurring landslides in Ethiopia endanger rapidly expanding settlements and infrastructure. We investigated a large landslide on the western escarpment of the Main Ethiopian Rift close to Debre Sina. To understand the extent and amplitude of the movements, we derived vectors of horizontal displacements by feature matching of very high resolution satellite images (VHR). The major movements occurred in two phases, after the rainy seasons in 2005 and 2006 reaching magnitudes of 48 ± 10.1 m and 114 ± 7.2 m, respectively. The results for the first phase were supported by amplitude tracking using two Envisat/ASAR scenes from the 31 July 2004 and the 29 October 2005. Surface changes in vertical direction were analyzed by subtraction of a pre-event digital elevation model (DEM) from aerial photographs and post-event DEM from ALOS/PRISM triplet data. Furthermore, we derived elevation changes using satellite laser altimetry measurement acquired by the ICESat satellite. These analyses allowed us to delineate the main landslide, which covers an area of 6.5 km2, shallow landslides surrounding the main landslide body that increased the area to 8.5 km2, and the stable area in the lower part of the slope. We assume that the main triggering factor for such a large landslide was precipitation cumulated over several months and we suspect that the slope failure will progress towards the foot of the slope.

KW - Ethiopian rift

KW - Tarmaber area

KW - Debre Sina

KW - large landslide

KW - feature tracking

KW - amplitude tracking

KW - DEM differencing

KW - ICESat

U2 - 10.3390/rs71215821

DO - 10.3390/rs71215821

M3 - Article

SN - 2072-4292

VL - 7

SP - 16183

EP - 16203

JO - Remote Sensing

JF - Remote Sensing

IS - 12

ER -

Remote sensing for characterisation and kinematic analysis of large slope failures: Debre Sina landslide, Main Ethiopian Rift Escarpment

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Keywords

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