Application of high-resolution stereo satellite images to detailed landslide hazard assessment

This study investigates and demonstrates the state of the art in remote sensing techniques for detailed landslide hazard assessment applicable to large areas. Since the most common methods of landslide hazard assessment using simple inventories and weighted overlays are heavily dependent on three-dimensional terrain visualization and analysis, stereo satellite images from the IKONOS Very High Resolution (VHR) sensor are used for this study. The DEMs created from IKONOS stereo images appear to be much more accurate and sensitive to micro-scale terrain features than a DEM created from digital contour data with a 2 m contour interval. Pan-sharpened stereo IKONOS images permit interpretation of recent landslides as small as 2-3 m in width as well as relict landslides older than 50 years. A cost-benefit analysis comparing stereo air photo interpretation with stereo satellite image interpretation suggests that stereo satellite imagery is usually more cost-effective for detailed landslide hazard assessment over large areas.