Proposal

On
An Automated Method for Detecting Rainfall-induced Landslide
Inventories Using Satellite Images and Machine Learning Algorithm

Name: Roquia Salam

Email address: al426762@uji.es / roquiasalam@gmail.com

Principal Supervisor: Professor Filiberto Pla Banon (UJI, Spain)

Co-Supervisor: Dr. Bayes Ahmed (UCL, UK)
Co-Supervisor: Professor Marco Painho (NOVA IMS, Portugal)
 1. Motivation, rationale and short background:

Rainfall-induced landslides are recurrent and catastrophic disasters with a long-lasting impact on people’s
lives, livelihoods, critical infrastructure, and sustainable development. A dynamic and automated landslide
forecasting system is the key to reducing disaster risk. Although many scientists have contributed to this
area for a long time, there is still a serious lack of development of an automated landslide forecasting
system. Among all limitations, a lack of systematic and continuous data collection (landslide inventories)
is the major limitation. In the context of Bangladesh, collecting landslide inventories is very difficult
because of three main reasons e.g., manual collection of landslide inventories is very costly and time-
consuming, extremely hilly areas make it inaccessible to reach there during the heavy monsoon season
when landslides occur, and conflict is a prevalent issue in hilly areas of Bangladesh where there is a life
risk. In these very unique circumstances, an automated landslide inventory method is a must. So far, no
study has been conducted in Bangladesh that detects landslide inventories using an automatic method which
is my major environmental science concern.

For this reason, I am very much interested in developing a reliable automatic method to detect landslides
incorporating advanced geotechnical and geospatial techniques to address the limitation and generate an
automated forecasting system. As a case study, Kutupalong Rohingya Camp in Cox’s Bazar district which
is situated in the south-eastern part of the hilly region of Bangladesh will be selected. The automatic
landslide-detecting method would be trustworthy and useful to develop an automated forecasting system.
It would assist the decision-makers in taking decisions e.g., giving alerts on time, landslide hazard zonation,
landslide susceptibility mapping, and so on, accurately, and ultimately, it will benefit the local communities
by reducing their overall loss. The novel method can be scaled up in similar rainfall-induced landslide
disaster contexts.

2. Aims (or hypothesis) and research questions:

Based on the research gap, the aim of this proposed research is:

• To develop an automatic method to detect landslide inventories, using satellite data and
machine learning (ML) algorithms
• To find the best-performed ML model detecting landslide inventories

The above-mentioned hypothesis is derived from the following research question:

• How to collect landslide inventories without field visits?

• What is the best-performed model detecting landslide inventories?

3. Literature review:

During the rainy season, a number of extreme landslides have occurred in mountainous areas resulting in
widespread fatality, losses, and damages (Mondini et al., 2023; Amatya et al., 2022). Due to climate change,
the occurrence of rainfall-induced landslides is expected to increase (Das and Wegmann, 2022) as climate
change has changed the hydrological cycle resulting in unusually heavy rainfall (Tabari et al., 2020). So,
landslide detection is an urgent task to reduce the risks associated with this disaster (Casagli et al., 2023).
Casagli et al. (2023) have pointed out that remote sensing-based techniques are often utilized to detect
landslides. For instance, Chen et al. (2018) have generated an automated method for detecting landslides,
in Shenzhen, China, by analyzing the change of pre- and post-disaster using satellite images. They have
used the change detection method utilizing the Deep Convolution Neural Network (DCNN). The results
indicate that their method is reliable enough to detect landslides by producing fewer errors. Conversely,
Amatya et al. (2022) have developed a semi-automated method modification by using three change
detection methods, based and pre- and post-satellite images collected from two different sources, to detect
landslides in Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand. They have utilized Principal Component Analysis
(PCA), Normalize Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and Independent Component Analysis (ICA) for
detecting change and thus, to detect landslides. Some of the landslides were not detected by this model
which is a limitation of this method (Amatya et al., 2022). Yi et al. (2023) have utilized the interferometric
synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) method to develop a semi-automatic method with a view to detecting
landslides in a part of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. They have claimed that this method can be applied in
other areas for detecting landslides. Meena et al. (2022) have applied four machine-learning models
Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machines (SVM), Convolutional U-Net (CUN), and K-Nearest
Neighbor (KNN) to develop an automated landslide detecting method based on satellite images collected
from two different satellites. They have found CUN as the best model among the four to detect landslides
in Nepal. The performances of the developed methods vary based on spatial resolution, cloud cover, and so
on. Very high or high-resolution imageries are better to get superior results to detect landslides
(Ghorbanzadeh et al., 2022; Lin et al., 2022). According to Handwerger et al. (2021), in the presence of
cloud cover in images, landslides cannot be detected fully. There are a few more things to consider during
developing methods to detect landslides.

4. Proposed methodology:
On 27 July 2021, a major landslide occurred in the Kutupalong Rohingya Camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
which resulted in massive structural destruction as well as 5 Rohingya refuses lost their lives (Kamal et al.,
2022). So, for this study, both pre-and post-event satellite images will be collected for the Kutupalong
Rohingya Camp considering the landslide that occurred in 2021. Several authors in different parts of the
world have used remote sensing images collected by the commercial satellite like RapidEye, PlanetScope,
and so on for detecting landslide inventories (Piralilou et al., 2019, Das and Wegmann, 2022, Ghorbanzadeh
et al., 2022). However, managing commercial satellite images is very costly (Gazzea et al., 2021). In this
case, the performance of the sentinel 2 satellite images is good enough to take into account for this kind of
study as it is free of cost as well as the spatial resolution of sentinel images is 10 m which is considerable
(Dai et al., 2020). So, for this study, Sentinel 2 images with 10m of spatial resolution will be collected from
Copernicus Open Access Hub (COAH).
 Figure 1: The flowchart showing the methodology of the proposed work
As the slope is an important factor in identifying landslides (Piralilou et al., 2021), a 12.5 m Advanced Land
Observation Satellite (ALOS) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) will be used for generating a slope layer.
Figure 1 demonstrates the full methodology of the proposed work. Images collected from both COAH and
ALOS will be pre-processed and resampled to 10m of resolution. A full description of the image pre-
processing and resampling can be found in the work conducted by Chen et al. (2012). Then, image
segmentation from sentinel 2 and feature extraction followed by Amatya et al. (2022) from both sentinel 2
and DEM will be performed. Yao and Jin (2022) have explained the process of image segmentation. In
previous decades, pixel-based change detection had been used extensively, however, recently, it is revealed
that object-based change detection is outperformed (Chen et al., 2012). So, in the proposed study object-
based change detection will be implemented. In the next stage, the most popular ML algorithm RF, and
deep learning algorithm convolutional neural network (CNN) will be performed to detect the landslide
inventories followed by Wang et al. (2021). Landslide inventory points collected from field observation, by
a research group of the Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction at the University College London (IRDR
UCL), will be used in the performance evaluation process. The performance of the model will be evaluated
by statistical metrics of accuracy, recall, F1 score, precision (Meena et al., 2022); and the area under the
curve” of the “Receiver Operating Characteristic” curve (AUC ROC) (Talukdar et al., 2020). Then, the
results of all the analyses will be visualized by maps, tables, and graphs. Finally, by analyzing the results
the best ML model will be selected for detecting landslide inventories. `
 5. Diagrammatic work plan:
Table 1 demonstrates the full work plan of the proposed work.
Table 1: The table shows the work plan of the proposed work

2023 2024

24 Sep to 8 Oct

16 to 23 Nov
30 Aug to 14

24 to 31 Dec
15 to 23 Sep

16 to 29 Feb
24 to 31 Jan
8 to 15 Nov
6 to 21 Aug

24 to 8 Dec

9 to 23 Dec

1 to 14 Feb
9 to 23 Oct
24 Oct to 7

1 to 22 Jan

1 to 5 Mar
29 Aug

15 Feb
23 Jan
22 to

Nov
Sep
Literature review
Finalizing Objectives
Finalizing methods
Data collection
Data cleaning
Model
implementation part
I
Model
implementation part
II
Model evaluation
Results visualization
Writing results
Writing discussion
Writing Introduction,
Conclusion, and
Abstract
Compiling all
chapters and
reviewing the draft
Submit the draft of
the thesis paper
Getting comments
from the Supervisors
Improving the thesis
based on
Supervisor’s
comments
Submitting the final
thesis
Preparing for the
final thesis defense
Final thesis defense

6. Brief explanation of the work plan:

In the previous section (section 5), the full work plan has been shown in Table 1. The final semester
intending to conduct the thesis will be started on the 6th of September 2023. The final defense will be held
on between the 1st to 5th of March 2024. So, there will be exactly 6 months for completing the thesis. The
full work has been split into several small tasks (Table 1). One or two weeks have been assigned for each
task. Sometimes, the time of one task has been overlapped with the time of another task, as it is assumed
that within the assigned one or two weeks the respective task will not be completed. The work will be
started by searching for the appropriate kinds of literature followed by finalizing the objectives and
methods. Simultaneously, the writing up of these sections will be completed. Then, the initiatives will be
taken to collect data from different sources. There is an important task after collecting data which is called
data cleaning. Before starting final analyses or model implementation, data cleaning e.g., removing outliers;
atmospheric, radiometric, geometric correction; removing cloud cover, and so on will have been completed,
so that the analyses will not be affected. The main analyses will be started by commencing the model
implementation part I where segmentation and feature extraction will be conducted. Then, in the model
implementation part II the RF and CNN models will be implemented to perform object-based change
detection to detect landslide inventories. Next, the performance of the model’s evaluation will be conducted,
followed by visualizing the results. After completing the analyses, the main task is to complete the writing
of results, followed by a discussion, introduction, conclusion, and lastly abstract. Subsequently, all chapters
will be combined and reviewed to last time checking before submitting the first draft. One week is assigned
for getting comments and recommendations from the supervisors. However, it is anticipated that probably
all supervisors will not be able to give feedback within one week, because of their high workload and busy
tight schedule. So, the time for getting feedback from supervisors is overlapped with the time for improving
the final thesis based on the supervisor’s comments. After submitting the final thesis in mid of February
2024, time will be allocated for taking preparation for the final defense that will be held on the first week
of March 2024. This is the tentative work plan. At any time, the work plan can be changed due to unexpected
circumstances.
 7. References:
Talukdar, S., Ghose, B., Shahfahad, Salam, R., Mahato, S., Pham, Q. B., ... & Avand, M. (2020). Flood
susceptibility modeling in Teesta River basin, Bangladesh using novel ensembles of bagging
algorithms. Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, 34, 2277-2300.
Wang, H., Zhang, L., Yin, K., Luo, H., & Li, J. (2021). Landslide identification using machine
learning. Geoscience Frontiers, 12(1), 351-364.
Yao, J., & Jin, S. (2022). Multi-Category Segmentation of Sentinel-2 Images Based on the Swin UNet
Method. Remote Sensing, 14(14), 3382.
Chen, G., Hay, G. J., Carvalho, L. M., & Wulder, M. A. (2012). Object-based change
detection. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 33(14), 4434-4457.
Dai, W., Na, J., Huang, N., Hu, G., Yang, X., Tang, G., ... & Li, F. (2020). Integrated edge detection and
terrain analysis for agricultural terrace delineation from remote sensing images. International Journal of
Geographical Information Science, 34(3), 484-503.
Gazzea, M., Pacevicius, M., Dammann, D. O., Sapronova, A., Lunde, T. M., & Arghandeh, R. (2021).
Automated power lines vegetation monitoring using high-resolution satellite imagery. IEEE Transactions
on Power Delivery, 37(1), 308-316.
Tavakkoli Piralilou, S., Shahabi, H., Jarihani, B., Ghorbanzadeh, O., Blaschke, T., Gholamnia, K., ... &
Aryal, J. (2019). Landslide detection using multi-scale image segmentation and different machine learning
models in the higher himalayas. Remote Sensing, 11(21), 2575.
Amatya, P., Kirschbaum, D., & Stanley, T. (2022). Rainfall‐induced landslide inventories for Lower
Mekong based on Planet imagery and a semi‐automatic mapping method. Geoscience Data Journal,
9(2), 315-327.
Casagli, N., Intrieri, E., Tofani, V., Gigli, G., & Raspini, F. (2023). Landslide detection, monitoring and
prediction with remote-sensing techniques. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 4(1), 51-64.
Chen, Z., Zhang, Y., Ouyang, C., Zhang, F., & Ma, J. (2018). Automated landslides detection for mountain
cities using multi-temporal remote sensing imagery. Sensors, 18(3), 821.
Das, R., & Wegmann, K. W. (2022). Evaluation of machine learning-based algorithms for landslide
detection across satellite sensors for the 2019 Cyclone Idai event, Chimanimani District,
Zimbabwe. Landslides, 1-17.
Ghorbanzadeh, O., Shahabi, H., Crivellari, A., Homayouni, S., Blaschke, T., & Ghamisi, P. (2022).
Landslide detection using deep learning and object-based image analysis. Landslides, 19(4), 929-
939.
Handwerger, A. L., Jones, S. Y., Amatya, P., Kerner, H. R., Kirschbaum, D. B., & Huang, M. H. (2021).
Strategies for landslide detection using open-access synthetic aperture radar backscatter change in
Google Earth Engine. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences Discussions. pp, 1-35.
Kamal, A. M., Hossain, F., Ahmed, B., & Sammonds, P. (2022). Analyzing the 27 July 2021 rainfall-induced
catastrophic landslide event in the Kutupalong Rohingya Camp in Cox’s Bazar,
Bangladesh. Geoenvironmental Disasters, 9(1), 17.
Lin, Y. N., Chen, Y. C., Kuo, Y. T., & Chao, W. A. (2022). Performance Study of Landslide Detection Using
Multi-Temporal SAR Images. Remote Sensing, 14(10), 2444.
Meena, S. R., Soares, L. P., Grohmann, C. H., Van Westen, C., Bhuyan, K., Singh, R. P., ... & Catani, F.
(2022). Landslide detection in the Himalayas using machine learning algorithms and U-Net.
Landslides, 19(5), 1209-1229.
Mondini, A. C., Guzzetti, F., & Melillo, M. (2023). Deep learning forecast of rainfall-induced shallow
landslides. Nature communications, 14(1), 2466.
Piralilou, S. T., Shahabi, H., & Pazur, R. (2021). Automatic landslide detection using bi-temporal sentinel
2 imagery. GI_Forum, 1, 39-45.
Tabari, H. (2020). Climate change impact on flood and extreme precipitation increases with water
availability. Scientific reports, 10(1), 1-10.
Yi, Y., Xu, X., Xu, G., & Gao, H. (2023). Landslide Detection Using Time-Series InSAR Method along the
Kangding-Batang Section of Shanghai-Nyalam Road. Remote Sensing, 15(5), 1452.