Triggering of shallow landslides and soil-hydrological processes

Shallow landslides triggered by rainfall events pose a serious threat to people and infrastructure. Previous research has shown that considering both soil moisture conditions and precipitation events helps to effectively predict periods of increased landslide risk. Here in this project, soil moisture measurement data from monitoring stations across Switzerland, precipitation information and landslide observations will lead to even better regional early warnings of landslides with the help of machine learning and physics-based modeling. We also will use these methods to investigate the question of how climate change will affect the occurrence of such landslide events.

Conference contributions:

Stähli M., Halter T., Walter F., Wicki A., Lehmann P. (2023) A pilot study in the Napf-Region (Central Switzerland) for an upcoming national landslide early warning system In V. Capobianco, L. Rødvand, F. Nadim, H. Heyerdahl, & S. Lacasse (Eds.), Proceedings of the 3rd JTC1 workshop. Impact of global changes on landslide hazard and risk. Oslo: Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI). 121-124. Institutional Repository DORA

Stähli M., Halter T., Walter F., Wicki A., Lehmann P. (2023) Towards a national Landslide Early Warning System for Switzerland: a pilot study to assess the use of soil wetness information and physically-based modelling, World Landslide Forum 6, Florence, Italy, 13-17 November, 2023, oral presentation (slides).

Halter T., Lehmann P., Bast A., Stähli M. (2023) Combining climate and soil moisture information in statistical modelling for landslide early warning. 21st Swiss Geoscience Meeting, Mendrisio, 18 November, 2023, abstract.