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Detection of slow or limited landslide movement within broad areas of forested terrain has long been problematic, particularly for the Cascade landslide complex (Washington) located along the Columbia River Gorge. Although parts of the landslide complex have been found reactivated in recent years, the timing and magnitude of motion have not been systematically monitored or interpreted. Here we apply novel time-series strategies to study the spatial distribution and temporal behavior of the landslide movement between 2007 and 2011 using InSAR images from two overlapping L-band ALOS PALSAR-1 satellite tracks. Our results show that the reactivated part has moved approximately 700 mm downslope during the 4-year observation period, while other parts of the landslide complex have generally remained stable. However, we also detect about 300 mm of seasonal downslope creep in a terrain block upslope of the Cascade landslide complex-terrain previously thought to be stable. The temporal oscillation of the seasonal movement can be correlated with precipitation, implying that seasonal movement here is hydrology-driven. The

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West Texas’ Permian Basin, consisting of ancient marine rocks, is underlain by water-soluble rocks and multiple oil-rich formations. In the region that is densely populated with oil producing facilities, many localized geohazards, such as ground subsidence and micro-earthquakes, have gone unnoticed. Here we identify the localized geohazards in West Texas, using the satellite radar interferometry from newly launched radar satellites that provide radar images freely to public for the first time, and probe the causal mechanisms of ground deformation, encompassing oil/gas production activities and subsurface geological characteristics. Based on our observations and analyses, human activities of fluid (saltwater, CO2) injection for stimulation of hydrocarbon production, salt dissolution in abandoned oil facilities, and hydrocarbon extraction each have negative impacts on the ground surface and infrastructures, including possible induced seismicity. Proactive continuous and detailed monitoring of ground deformation from space over the currently operating and the previously operated oil/gas production facilities, as demonstrated by this research, is essential to securing the safety of humanity, preserving property, and sustaining the growth of the hydrocarbon production industry.

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Abstract:The Qinghai-Tibetan plateau (QTP), also known as the Third Pole and the World Water Tower, is the largest and highest plateau with distinct and competing surface and subsurface processes. It is covered by a large layer of discontinuous and sporadic alpine permafrost which has degraded 10% during the past few decades. The average active layer thickness (ALT) increase rate is approximately 7.5 cm·yr −1 from 1995 to 2007, based on soil temperature measurements from 10 borehole sites along Qinghai-Tibetan Highway, and approximately 6.3 cm·yr −1 , 2006-2010, using soil temperature profiles for 27 monitoring sites along Qinghai-Tibetan railway. In this study, we estimated the ALT and its AL thickening rate in the northern QTP near the railway using ALOS PALSAR L-band small baseline subset interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SBAS-InSAR) data observed land subsidence and the corresponding ALT modeling. The InSAR estimated ALT and AL thickening rate were validated with ground-based observations from the borehole site WD4 within our study region, indicating excellent agreement. We concluded that we have generated high spatial resolution (30 m) and spatially-varying ALT and AL thickening rates, [2007][2008][2009], over approximately an area of 150 km 2 of permafrost-covered region in the northern QTP.