Landslide Sensitivity and Response to Precipitation Changes in Wet and Dry Climates.

Slow-moving landslides are hydrologically driven. Yet, landslide sensitivity to precipitation, and in particular, precipitation extremes, is difficult to constrain because landslides occur under diverse hydroclimatological conditions. Here we use standardized open-access satellite radar interferometry data to quantify the sensitivity of 38 landslides to both a record drought and extreme rainfall that occurred in California between 2015 and 2020.

Using Sentinel-1 and GRACE satellite data to monitor the hydrological variations within the Tulare Basin, California.

Subsidence induced by groundwater depletion is a grave problem in many regions around the world, leading to a permanent loss of groundwater storage within an aquifer and even producing structural damage at the Earth's surface. California's Tulare Basin is no exception, experiencing about a meter of subsidence between 2015 and 2020. However, understanding the relationship between changes in groundwater volumes and ground deformation has proven difficult.