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Large Landslides in a Changing World

Global distribution of landslides. Graphic by Joaquin Ferrer
Global distribution of landslides. Graphic by Joaquin Ferrer

Funding agency:

DFG Research Training Group “NatRiskChange”

Funding period:

October 2021 - September 2024

Project description:

Numerous studies devoted to landslide prediction rely on intersecting data of past slope failures and the associated geological, topographic, and meteorological conditions. One common notion is that contemporary atmospheric warming is increasing the magnitude and frequency of landslides. We test this notion by making use of detailed time series of meteorological and seismological data that have become available at high spatial and temporal resolution and encourage means to predict landslides from patterns of weather and seismic activity. In this project we aim to learn whether and how well it is feasible to predict, large—and often destructive—landslides from precursory weather conditions. We also aim to test how to disentangle such predictions from the influence of historic seismic activity. This approach is novel in that it focuses on climatic and seismic precursors for each landslide, and in that it focuses on the larger to largest slope failures that have eluded most comparable studies.

Primary Project Affiliations:

  • University of Potsdam
  • Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research

Active Project Cooperation Partners:

  • Rochester Institute of Technology
  • GFZ Potsdam
Global distribution of landslides. Graphic by Joaquin Ferrer
Global distribution of landslides. Graphic by Joaquin Ferrer