Landslide change detection and displacement tracking using nanosatellite imagery: La Montagna landslide, Southern Italy

Abstract

Landslides move with spatial and temporal variable velocity. This parameter, being representative of the landslide magnitude, has to be considered in hazard evaluation and mitigation measurement planning, so that it is of dramatic importance to accurately describe landslide kinematics. In the last decade, a new low-cost satellite platform has started acquiring daily data of the earth surface in the form of RGB-NIR images. In this paper, we explore the potential of using these products to make a change detection morphometric analysis and track surface displacement of the actively moving La Montagna landslide in southern Italy, through visual analysis of 12 scenes acquired between October 2018 and March 2019. We validated the reconstructed displacement time series through a comparison with monitoring data acquired using an extensometer. Results from our analysis underline the potential of using satellite imagery characterized by very high revisiting cycle to reconstruct landslide kinematics.