Search

Landslide disasters occur frequently in the western mountainous regions of China and are characterized by high concealment, suddenness, and strong destructiveness. Early identification of potential disaster hazards is the most effective disaster prevention and mitigation measure. The western mountainous areas are mostly in alpine-canyon terrain with a wide range, which is hard or even impossible to reach, where the traditional early identification methods of manual inspection are difficult to implement. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), as an emerging radar remote-sensing method, can efficiently and accurately identify the hidden dangers of landslide disasters. In this study, based on the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-1 synthetic aperture radar data, the time series InSAR technology was used to identify the potential landslide hazards in alpine-canyon terrain along Yajiang County-Muli County of the Yalong River, detecting eight potential geohazards. Based on the historical data of landslide hazards and optical remote sensing interpretation, the early identification results were verified and analyzed, and the danger level of the disaster points was evaluated. The influence of geometric distortion in InSAR technology on the early identification of potential landslide disasters in alpine-canyon terrain is also discussed. This case can provide powerful data and technical support for local disaster prevention and mitigation and provide ideas and references for the early identification of the hidden dangers of landslide disasters in mountain-valley areas.