The SNAKE System: CEMADEN’s Landslide Early Warning System (LEWS) Mechanism

Abstract

In Brazil, the prominent climate-induced disasters are floods and mass movements, with the latter being the most lethal. The spate of major landslide events, especially those in 2011, catalyzed the creation of CEMADEN (National Center for Monitoring and Early Warning of Natural Disasters). This article introduces one of CEMADEN's pivotal systems for early landslide warnings and traces its developmental timeline. The highlighted SNAKE System epitomizes advancements in digital monitoring, forecasting, and alert mechanisms. By leveraging precipitation data from pluviometers in observed municipalities, the system bolsters early warnings related to potential mass movements, like planar slides and debris flows. Its deployment in CEMADEN's Situation Room attests to its suitability for overseeing high-risk municipalities, attributed primarily to its robustness and precision.

ARHCS (Automatic Rainfall Half-Life Cluster System): A Landslides Early Warning System (LEWS) Using Cluster Analysis and Automatic Threshold Definition

“…In this study, we employ the concept of Rainfall Half-Life [26], an idea initially addressed in the Tank Model by [25], a hydrological model developed for flow analysis. In the context of this work, half-life is assumed to represent the Soil Saturation Potential.…”

Antecedent Precipitation Index to Estimate Soil Moisture and Correlate as a Triggering Process in the Occurrence of Landslides

“…The primary preparatory and triggering environmental variable for landslide processes is rainfall. Once in Brazil there are several climate conditions [5], certain rainfall indices, such as accumulated rainfall over 24 hours, 48 hours, or 72 hours obtained through empirical correlation methods [6] [7] [8] are typically employed in Preventive Civil Defense Plans as critical operational thresholds in alert systems to predict landslides in urbanized slopes. However, relying solely on rainfall thresholds does not allow for precise and consistent issuance of alerts, as the landslide initiation process involves other equally important geo-environmental factors or variables.…”