Influence of DEM resolution on landslide simulation performance based on the Scoops3D model

Abstract

Using the physical deterministic model to analyze landslide stability has become a hotspot of landslide disasters research all over the world. The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) resolution has a great influence on the simulation effect of 3 D physical models. However, few researchers have studied the prediction performance of the 3 D models under different DEM resolutions. Therefore, based on the 3 D model Scoops3D, the spatial distribution of landslides was simulated and predicted under five different DEMs resolutions (2.5 m, 5 m, 10 m, 20 m, and 30 m). The optimal parameters of the model were obtained through field investigations and laboratory experiments, and then, the simulation results were compared with the actual landslides distribution. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis and %LRclass index were used to quantitatively evaluate the prediction performance of the 3 D model under five different DEMs resolutions. The results show that Scoops3D has good performance in landslide spatial distribution prediction. In addition, we also found that the simulation results of high-resolution DEM were not ideal, while the prediction results of medium resolution DEMs (i.e., 5 m and 10 m) were more accurate. Therefore, this study provide a reference to select the most suitable DEM resolution for landslide stability analysis.