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Linear discriminant analysis to describe the relationship between rainfall and landslides in Bogotá, Colombia

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Abstract

Bogotá is located in the central Andean region of Colombia, which is frequently affected by landslide processes. These processes are mostly triggered during the rainy season in the city. This fact remarks the importance of determining what rain-derived parameters (e.g. intensity, antecedent rain, daily rain) are better related with the occurrence of landslides. For this purpose, the linear discriminant analysis (LDA), a technique derived from multivariate statistics, was used. The application of this type of analysis led to obtain simple mathematical functions that represent the probability of occurrence of landslides in Bogotá. The functions also allow to identify the most relevant variables derived from records of rainfall linked to the generation of landslides. A proof of concept using the proposed methodology was done using historic rainfall data from a 9-km2 area of homogenous climatology and geomorphology in the south part of Bogotá. Landslides needed to be grouped for the LDA. Each one of these grouping categories represents landslides that occurred in similar geomorphologic conditions. Another set of events with no landslides was generated synthetically. Results of the proof of concept show that rainfall parameters such as normalized rainfall intensity I MAP, normalized daily rainfall R MAP and rainy-days normal RDN have the best statistical correlation with the landslides observed in the zone of analysis.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank IDIGER (Instituto Distrital de Gestión del Riesgo y Cambio Climático) for the access and use of the database of technical reports of landslides in Bogotá, registered between 1996 and 2013. In addition, the authors acknowledge the partial financial support for the development of this work from Pontificia Universidad Javeriana by grant number 6143 ‘Determination of onset of rainfall that triggered landslides at Bogotá - Colombia’.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Carrera 7 No. 40-62, Bogotá, Colombia

    Alfonso Mariano Ramos-Cañón, Luis Felipe Prada-Sarmiento & Mario Germán Trujillo-Vela

  2. INGFOCOL Ltda., Cra. 19 A No. 79-18, Bogotá, Colombia

    Juan Pablo Macías & Ana Carolina Santos-R

Authors
  1. Alfonso Mariano Ramos-Cañón
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  2. Luis Felipe Prada-Sarmiento
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  3. Mario Germán Trujillo-Vela
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  4. Juan Pablo Macías
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  5. Ana Carolina Santos-R
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Correspondence to Alfonso Mariano Ramos-Cañón or Mario Germán Trujillo-Vela.

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Ramos-Cañón, A.M., Prada-Sarmiento, L.F., Trujillo-Vela, M.G. et al. Linear discriminant analysis to describe the relationship between rainfall and landslides in Bogotá, Colombia. Landslides 13, 671–681 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-015-0593-2

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