Towards an early‐warning system for global landslides triggered by rainfall and earthquake

Drawing upon the recent advances of satellite remote‐sensing technology and landslide modelling techniques, a framework is proposed to attempt an early‐warning system for landslide hazards after heavy rainfall and/or earthquake, the two major triggers for landslides. This framework includes three major components: (1) a landslide susceptibility information database, including geology, elevation, topography, soil, and land‐cover types; (2) a real‐time space‐borne precipitation estimation system (http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov); and (3) a near‐real‐time ground‐shaking prediction system after earthquakes (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/shakemap/). The ultimate goal of this framework is to rapidly predict landslide potential after large earthquakes and/or heavy rainfall by combing the dynamic triggers with landslide susceptibility information derived from high‐resolution geospatial datasets. However, the challenge for integrating these real‐time systems into an operational landslide prediction network and quickly disseminating alerts around the world is tremendous. It requires continued efforts and interdisciplinary collaboration in the next 2–5 years in order to realize such a system, providing early warning for landslides around the globe in a day‐to‐day decision‐making operation.

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