Abstract
Threshold models based on rainfall data have been shown to be useful for predicting imminent rainfall-induced landslides and dangerous debris flows in communities. The accuracy of such models greatly depends on the reliability of the rainfall data used. In turn, due to spatio-temporal variations in rainfall, the reliability of the rainfall data is mainly controlled by the distance between the rain gauge and the source area of the event. The high variability of rainfall events has been noted by many researchers, but detailed analysis using local rainfall data is scarce. We report here our comparison of rainfall data derived from two meteorological stations (MS.1 and MS.2) which were located at the deposition fan (1820 m.a.s.l) and source area (2400 m.a.s.l), respectively, of Touzhai Landslide in Yunnan, China. The two MSs spanned 580 m in elevation and 2.23 km in horizontal distance. Rainfall data collected hourly for a 1-year period (1 October 2013 to 30 September 2014) were analyzed. The results showed that rainfall at the two locations differed significantly. First, the vertical rainfall gradient between the two MSs was up to 187.9 mm/100 m, and the rainfall amount at MS.2 was 1.8-fold greater than that at MS.1. Second, MS.2 had both a greater amount of rainfall and a longer duration of events compared to MS.1, and high-intensity rainfall events were more frequent at MS.2. Thirdly, rainfall at the two locations was asynchronous, i.e. the rainfall at MS.2 always started earlier and ended later than that at MS.1. Both MSs showed a diurnal rainfall pattern in which it rained less during the daytime and more during the nighttime. These data revealed a negative relationship between rainfall and temperature and a positive correlation between rainfall and elevation. Based on all data together, the rainfall difference between the deposition fan and the depopulated source area of Touzhai Landslide is distinct. We conclude that in mountainous areas with a large altitude difference, rainfall data can improve the precision of rainfall threshold models only when rain gauges are sufficiently close to the source areas.
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This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China–Yunnan Joint Fund (U1502232, U1033601) and Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (2013531411005). We greatly appreciated the anonymous reviewers’ pertinent comments on this work.
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Wang, K., Ren, Z., Mei, X. et al. Rainfall difference between the deposition fan and source area of Touzhai Landslide in Yunnan, China. Bull Eng Geol Environ 78, 1937–1954 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-017-1207-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-017-1207-0