The role of geomorphology, rainfall and soil moisture in the occurrence of landslides triggered by 2018 Typhoon Mangkhut in the Philippines

Abancó, Clàudia, Bennett, Georgina L. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4812-8180, Matthews, Adrian J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0492-1168, Matera, Mark Anthony M. and Tan, Fibor J. (2021) The role of geomorphology, rainfall and soil moisture in the occurrence of landslides triggered by 2018 Typhoon Mangkhut in the Philippines. Natural Hazards and Earth System Science, 21 (5). pp. 1531-1550. ISSN 1684-9981

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Abstract

In 2018 Typhoon Mangkhut (locally known as Typhoon Ompong) triggered thousands of landslides in the Itogon region of the Philippines. A landslide inventory of the affected region is compiled for the first time, comprising 1101 landslides over a 570 km2 area. The inventory is used to study the geomorphological characteristics and land cover more prone to landsliding as well as the hydrometeorological conditions that led to widespread failure. The results showed that landslides mostly occurred on grassland and wooded slopes of clay superficial geology, predominantly facing eastsoutheast. Rainfall (Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement, IMERG GPM) associated with Typhoon Mangkhut is compared with 33 highintensity rainfall events that did not trigger regional landslide events in 2018. Results show that landslides occurred during high-intensity rainfall that coincided with the highest soil moisture values (estimated clays saturation point), according to Soil Moisture Active Passive level 4 (SMAP-L4) data. Our results demonstrate the potential of SMAP-L4 and GPM IMERG data for landslide hazard assessment and early warning where ground-based data are scarce. However, other rainfall events in the months leading up to Typhoon Mangkhut that had similar or higher rainfall intensities and also occurred when soils were saturated did not trigger widespread landsliding, highlighting the need for further research into the conditions that trigger landslides in typhoons.

Item Type: Article
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
Faculty of Science > School of Natural Sciences
University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
Related URLs:
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 24 Mar 2021 00:41
Last Modified: 20 Mar 2023 08:35
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/79545
DOI: 10.5194/nhess-21-1531-2021

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