This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Earth Observations for Geohazards" that was published in Remote Sensing

This book provides insights from a geoscientist’s perspective into the benefits and the potential of remote sensing methods to address problems with a high social impact: identifying the drivers of geohazards and developing new methods for monitoring natural resources. The fields covered include volcanic hazards, seismic hazards, landslide hazards, land subsidence hazards and monitoring of natural resources through the use and combination of various remote sensing techniques and modelling approaches. This book should spark collaborations and encourage readers to think beyond disciplines or techniques, as well as enable readers to build their own workflow depending on their study of interest. It provides a much-needed comprehensive review of recent advances that remote sensing methods have brought to geohazards and resources research. It is unique in the way that it unifies geohazards and natural resources research to highlight cross-field advancements and potential areas for multiple fields of science to collaborate. The book intends to provide both a basic understanding of the remote sensing methods used in geohazards and natural resources sciences, with appropriate referencing for readers wishing to further their technique-specific learning, and a detailed application of these methods to a variety of sustainability problems. It aims at providing the reader with workflows for combining multiple techniques with demonstrated results in a variety of disciplines. This approach makes the book useful for both students learning about geohazards and resources, learning about remote sensing methods, and for researchers intending to expand their skill set using methods that have been applied to other fields. This book provides an introduction to each remote sensing method with references for in-depth technical learning which will benefit students in Remote Sensing courses.

Remote sensing plays a pivotal role in understanding where and how floods and glacier geohazards occur; their severity, causes and types; and the risk that they may pose to populations, activities and properties. By providing a spectrum of imaging capabilities, resolutions and temporal and spatial coverage, remote sensing data acquired from satellite, aerial and ground-based platforms provide key geo-information to characterize and model these processes. This book includes research papers on novel technologies (e.g., sensors, platforms), data (e.g., multi-spectral, radar, laser scanning, GPS, gravity) and analysis methods (e.g., change detection, offset tracking, structure from motion, 3D modeling, radar interferometry, automated classification, machine learning, spectral indices, probabilistic approaches) for flood and glacier imaging. Through target applications and case studies distributed globally, these articles contribute to the discussion on the current potential and limitations of remote sensing in this specialist research field, as well as the identification of trends and future perspectives.

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Observing Geohazards from Space" that was published in Geosciences

Satellite Earth observation (EO) data have already exceeded the petabyte scale and are increasingly freely and openly available from different data providers. This poses a number of issues in terms of volume (e.g., data volumes have increased 10× in the last 5 years); velocity (e.g., Sentinel-2 is capturing a new image of any given place every 5 days); and variety (e.g., different types of sensors, spatial/spectral resolutions). Traditional approaches to the acquisition, management, distribution, and analysis of EO data have limitations (e.g., data size, heterogeneity, and complexity) that impede their true information potential to be realized. Addressing these big data challenges requires a change of paradigm and a move away from local processing and data distribution methods to lower the barriers caused by data size and related complications in data management. To tackle these issues, EO data cubes (EODC) are a new paradigm revolutionizing the way users can store, organize, manage, and analyze EO data. This Special Issue is consequently aiming to cover the most recent advances in EODC developments and implementations to broaden the use of EO data to larger communities of users, support decision-makers with timely and actionable information converted into meaningful geophysical variables, and ultimately unlock the information power of EO data.

This book presents up-to-date geoscience technologies for heritage investigations and conservation, covering various sub-disciplines of geophysics, geodesy, 3D laser scanning technology, hydrogeology, and rock mechanics applied to the exploration of new heritage sites, mapping and visualization, as well as hazard mitigation. The current shift toward interdisciplinary ways of thinking highlights the added value of merging arts with sciences and other disciplines for better management and preservation of cultural heritage. Featuring advanced scientific investigations in 40 case studies around the globe, the book demonstrates how a better understanding of natural processes coupled with conservation approaches, mainly based on sustainable practices such as the use of traditional knowledge in recovery techniques and building local capacities, can ensure effective conservation.

In the field of natural hazards, communicating science with the public and stakeholders involves entering the challenging and complex world of hazard and risk communication, the ultimate purpose of which is to reduce the impact of impending hazards on people at risk. According to the Sendai Framework 2015-2030, it is important to “strengthen the utilization of media, including social media, traditional media, big data and mobile phone networks, to support national measures for successful disaster risk communication.” Sometimes risk communication has collateral and unexpected side effects that may lead to the adoption of inadequate behaviors. In some instances, this can even result in legal actions being taken against scientists and/or emergency managers. The role of the media should be to facilitate the accurate communication of hazard and risk information, but such communication is often hampered by the fact that journalists have different agendas and priorities than scientists, risk communicators, and emergency managers. This does not always support people in their decision making. Accurate communication of hazard and risk is especially important when decisions have to be made within contexts where uncertainty is very high. This is often the case with geohazards, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and landslides.

This volume contains peer-reviewed papers from the Fourth World Landslide Forum organized by the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL), the Global Promotion Committee of the International Programme on Landslides (IPL), University of Ljubljana (UL) and Geological Survey of Slovenia in Ljubljana, Slovenia from May 29 to June 2,. The complete collection of papers from the Forum is published in five full-color volumes. This second volume contains the following: • Two keynote lectures • Landslide Field Recognition and Identification: Remote Sensing Techniques, Field Techniques • Landslide Investigation: Field Investigations, Laboratory Testing • Landslide Modeling: Landslide Mechanics, Simulation Models • Landslide Hazard Risk Assessment and Prediction: Landslide Inventories and Susceptibility, Hazard Mapping Methods, Damage Potential Prof. Matjaž Mikoš is the Forum Chair of the Fourth World Landslide Forum. He is the Vice President of International Consortium on Landslides and President of the Slovenian National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction. Prof. Binod Tiwari is the Coordinator of the Volume 2 of the Fourth World Landslide Forum. He is a Board member of the International Consortium on Landslides and an Executive Editor of the International Journal “Landslides”. He is the Chair-Elect of the Engineering Division of the US Council of Undergraduate Research, Award Committee Chair of the American Society of Civil Engineering, Geo-Institute’s Committee on Embankments, Slopes, and Dams Committee. Prof. Yueping Yin is the President of the International Consortium on Landslides and the Chairman of the Committee of Geo-Hazards Prevention of China, and the Chief Geologist of Geo-Hazard Emergency Technology, Ministry of Land and Resources, P.R. China. Prof. Kyoji Sassa is the Founding President of the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL). He is Executive Director of ICL and the Editor-in-Chief of International Journal“Landslides” since its foundation in 2004. IPL (International Programme on Landslides) is a programme of the ICL. The programme is managed by the IPL Global Promotion Committee including ICL and ICL supporting organizations, UNESCO, WMO, FAO, UNISDR, UNU, ICSU, WFEO, IUGS and IUGG. The IPL contributes to the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and the ISDR-ICL Sendai Partnerships 2015–2025.