Project Description:
This project is aimed at mapping 2017 landslides in the Santa Cruz Mountains, California using InSAR techniques. Goal is to evaluated how much information can be extracted about these landslides from Sentinel-1 InSAR observations.
During the winter of 2017, central California was inundated with heavy precipitation from atmospheric rivers. At one point, mudslides, sinkholes and washouts caused road closures on Highway 17, Highway 152, and both north and south ends of Highway 9, stranding mountain community residents, and restricting travel out of the coastal communities to a single 75-mile route circumventing the mountains. Identifying slope instability and areas prone to slope failure in the area may help future planning of new development and road construction avoid placing housing and infrastructure in the most hazardous areas. Hence, this project will assess the benefit of InSAR techniques using on Sentinel-1 data to identify regions of high ground deformation that would indicate that a landslide has occurred.
Student Leading the Project:
Patrick Graham, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Storms taking a toll on roads in the Santa Cruz Mtns. 26 mountain roads impacted by sldes and downed trees. pic.twitter.com/NYnFfhphdT
— @Rob Fladeboe (@RFladeboe7) January 10, 2017