Developments of Remote Sensing and Numerical Modeling Applications for Landslide Analysis

Landslides are one of the most hazardous natural phenomena, and they can produce significant impacts on nearby communities and infrastructure. Landslides can occur ubiquitously and affect slopes located in many different environments, from paraglacial to coastal locations. When traditional survey methods are used, the collection of geological data required to characterize landslides may be limited or prevented by difficult terrain and the state of activity of the slopes. The use of remote sensing techniques can overcome these challenges, also allowing monitoring of surface slope displacements and mapping of slope damage features. Multi-sensor, multi-platform, and multi-temporal datasets and approaches can maximize the quality and the quantity of remotely sensed data to better characterize the behavior and the geomorphic evolution of landslides.

Identification and interpretation of the mechanism and factors controlling the behavior and the evolution of the landslide can be tested using numerical modeling analyses. Simulations conducted using continuous, discontinuous, and hybrid numerical analyses can be validated and constrained against field and monitoring data, making them an important tool to support and substantiate hypotheses and geological interpretations of mechanisms and factors underlying the behavior of landslides affecting natural and engineered slopes.

This Research Topic aims to showcase the advances in the application of state-of-the-art remote sensing techniques, numerical modeling methods, and their combination, for the characterization, monitoring and simulation of subaerial landslides in different environments.

Topics to be addressed in this Research Topic include:

• Application of state-of-the-art remote sensing techniques for landslide mapping, monitoring, and interpretation;

• Geomorphic and structural characterization of slopes and landslides at various scales using remote sensing methods;

• Multi-sensor and multi-platform remote sensing characterization of landslides;

• Application of remote sensing methods for engineering-geomorphological mapping of landslides;

• Characterization of landslide evolution using multi-temporal remote sensing data set;

• Numerical modeling of landslides based on and constrained using field and monitoring data.

Addressing these topics requires a multidisciplinary approach that covers engineering geology, rock and soil mechanics, structural geology, and geomorphology. We look forward to seeing submissions showcasing case studies of landslide analysis that employ or combine different remote sensing and/or numerical modeling methods to investigate the behavior and evolution of unstable slopes