Modeling Landslide Volumes: A Case Study in Whatcom County, Washington, USA

In mountainous terrains, landslides and their deposits form a major natural hazard for human settlements and economic activities. The characterization and analysis of landslide volumes is important to understanding their behaviors and the effects of their potential propagation distances. The Washington Geological Survey (WGS) created a new protocol to map landslides with consistent data in Washington State using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR). The protocol uses the surface area and the average depth of landslides to estimate their initial volumes. The aim of this paper is to present the ongoing research project from the Institute of Geography at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and WGS to estimate sediment production and distribution by taking full advantage of LiDAR and standardized landslide volume calculation in a Geographic Information System (GIS). We develop two landslide volume models by using Python scripts. These models are a systematic methodology for modeling volume of shallow and deep-seated landslides. The methodology and its implementation in the GIS-based technology is presented and discussed.