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Measuring displacements of the Thompson River valley landslides, south of Ashcroft, BC, Canada, using satellite InSAR

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Abstract

The Thompson River valley, south of Ashcroft in British Columbia, Canada, has experienced several landslides since the mid-1800s. The national railways that run along the valley cross a number of these landslides. All the landslides occur in glacial deposits, typically sliding on weak clay layers. Some have failed rapidly to very rapidly and are currently inactive or showing deformation rates from a few millimeters to centimeters per year. An evaluation of satellite InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) using RADARSAT-2 images between September 2013 and November 2015 provides new insight into landslide displacements in the Thompson River valley. This information enhances the ongoing hazard management of unstable terrain. This paper presents the comparison of the InSAR measurements with other instrumentation (GPS and ShapeAccelArrays™ -SAA) installed at one moving landslide and then addresses the extent and magnitude of the slope movements observed. InSAR was found to provide similar displacement values to those measured otherwise. The stable location showed displacements of +/−1 mm with an average near zero during the whole monitoring period. Six areas of slope movement were identified within the study area, all within or adjacent to the footprints of past landslides. The average line of sight (LOS) displacement rates range between 11 and 39 mm/year. Most of the landslides exhibited seasonal variations in velocity that corresponds to changes in river elevation in the valley.

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Abbreviations

\( {\overline{U}}_{LOS} \) :

Unit vector in the direction of the line of sight

\( {\overline{U}}_{slope} \) :

Unit vector in the downslope direction

D LOS :

Displacement measured in the line of sight

D slope :

Equivalent downslope displacements

P C :

Percentage of movement captured by the line of sight

AOI:

Area of Interest

CN:

Canadian National Railway

CP:

Canadian Pacific Railway

CR:

Corner Reflector

CSA:

Canadian Space Agency

CT:

Coherent Target

DInSAR:

Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar

ESA:

European Space Agency

GPS:

Global Positioning System

GSC:

Geological Survey of Canada

IDW:

Inverse Distance Weighted

InSAR:

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar

km:

kilometer

LOS:

Line of Sight

m:

meter

mm:

millimeter

NRCan:

Natural Resources Canada

NSERC:

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

PSI:

Persistent Scatterer Interferometry

S :

Scalar factor (secant of the angle between \( {\overline{U}}_{LOS} \) and \( {\overline{U}}_{slope} \))

SAA:

ShapeAccelArrays™

SAR:

Synthetic Aperture Radar

SI:

Slope Inclinometer

TC:

Transport Canada

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Acknowledgements

This research was made possible through the (Canadian) Railway Ground Hazard Research Program, which is funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Canadian Pacific Railway (CP), Canadian National Railway (CN) and Transport Canada (TC). The authors are grateful to the Geologic Survey of Canada (GSC), Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) for the satellite images and the resources for processing these images; and, Tom Edwards (CN) and Chris Bunce (BGC Engineering) for their insights about this area.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. BGC Engineering Inc, Suite 200, 8204-104 Street NW, Edmonton, AB, T6E 4E6, Canada

    J. Journault

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, 6-332 Donadeo ICE Building, Edmonton, AB, T6G 1H9, Canada

    R. Macciotta

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, 6-263 Donadeo ICE Building, Edmonton, AB, T6G 1H9, Canada

    M. T. Hendry

  4. Canada Centre for Remote Sensing/Canadian Centre for Mapping and Earth Observation, 560 Rochester Street, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0E4, Canada

    F. Charbonneau

  5. Geological Survey of Canada, 1500-605 Robson Street, Vancouver, BC, V6B 5J3, Canada

    D. Huntley

  6. Geological Survey of Canada, 9860 W Saanich Road, Sidney, BC, V8L 5T5, Canada

    P. T. Bobrowsky

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  1. J. Journault
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  2. R. Macciotta
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  3. M. T. Hendry
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  4. F. Charbonneau
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  5. D. Huntley
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  6. P. T. Bobrowsky
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Correspondence to R. Macciotta.

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Journault, J., Macciotta, R., Hendry, M.T. et al. Measuring displacements of the Thompson River valley landslides, south of Ashcroft, BC, Canada, using satellite InSAR. Landslides 15, 621–636 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10346-017-0900-1

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