Multiple Small Scale Landslides Triggered by Typhoon Talas 2011

Abstract

Devastating landslides can cause significant damage. In particular, typhoon-triggered landslides pose a chain of natural hazards. However, such events are difficult to detect due to their remote locations, leaving the physical processes poorly understood. Here we apply a novel surface-wave detector using intermediate-period surface waves to detect and locate landslides during the transit of Typhoon Talas 2011. We identify multiple landslides triggered by Typhoon Talas, including a landslide in the Tenryu Ward, Shizuoka, Japan, ~400 km east from the Typhoon’s track. The Tenryu landslide only displaced a total mass of 3.1×10^9 kg, which is much smaller than typical seismically-detectable landslides, yet generated coherent seismic signals propagating up to 3,000 km away. Our observations demonstrate that typhoons can potentially trigger landslides that are hundreds of kilometers away from their tracks. Our results also suggest an alerting technology to detect and locate landslides with only a sparse seismic network.

The Influence of Typhoon “MITAG” on Waves and Currents in Zhoushan Sea Area, China

“…In order to reduce the losses caused by a typhoon, several scholars have been analyzing and studying typhoons about their effects and the theories behind them [2][3][4][5][6]. Su et al [1] analyzed the characteristics of typhoons that landed in China from 1949 to 2018.…”