Reply on RC2

Abstract

Landslide dams are caused by landslide materials blocking rivers. After the occurrence of large-scale landslides, it is necessary to conduct large-scale investigation of barrier lakes and rapid risk assessment. Remote sensing is an important means to achieve this goal. However, at present remote sensing is only used for monitoring and extraction of hydrological parameters at present, without prediction on potential hazard of the landslide dam. The key parameters of the barrier dam, such as the dam height and the maximum volume, still need to be obtained based on field investigation, which is time-consuming. Our research proposes a procedure that is able to calculate the height of the landslide dam and the maximum volume of the barrier lake, using single remote sensing image and pre-landslide DEM. The procedure includes four modules: (a) determining the elevation of the lake level, (b) determining the elevation of the bottom of the dam, (c) calculating the highest height of the dam, (d) predicting the lowest crest height of the dam and the maximum volume. Finally, the sensitivity analysis of the parameters during the procedure and the analysis of the influence of different resolution images is carried out. This procedure is demonstrated through Baige Landslide Dam in south-west China. The single image from Beijing-1 and pre-landslide DEM, SRTM V3, are used to predict the height of the dam and the key parameters of the dam break, which are in good agreement with the measured data. This procedure can effectively support the quick decision-making regarding hazard mitigation.