Integration of Remote Sensing Techniques for Intensity Zonation within a Landslide Area: A Case Study in the Northern Apennines, Italy

This paper describes the application of remote sensing techniques, based on SAR interferometry for the intensity zonation of the landslide affecting the Castagnola village (Northern Apennines of Liguria region, Italy). The study of the instability conditions of the landslide started in 2001 with the installation of conventional monitoring systems, such as inclinometers and crackmeters, ranging in time from April 2001 to April 2002, which allowed to define the deformation rates of the landslide and to locate the actual landslide sliding surface, as well as to record the intensity of the damages and cracks affecting the buildings located within the landslide perimeter. In order to investigate the past long-term evolution of the ground movements a PSI (Persistent Scatterers Interferometry) analysis has been performed making use of a set of ERS1/ERS2 images acquired in 1992–2001 period. The outcome of the PSI analysis has allowed to confirm the landslide extension as mapped within the official landslide inventory map as well as to reconstruct the past line-of-sight average velocities of the landslide and the time-series deformations. Following the high velocities detected by the PSI, and the extensive damages surveyed in the buildings of the village, the Ground-Based Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (GBInSAR) system has been installed. The GBInSAR monitoring system has been equipped during October 2008 and three distinct campaigns have been carried out from October 2008 until March 2009. The interpretation of the data has allowed deriving a multi-temporal deformation map of the landslide, showing the up-to-date displacement field and the average landslide velocity. A new landslide boundary has been defined and two landslide sectors characterized by different displacement rates have been identified