Articles | Volume 24, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-3651-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
InSAR-informed in situ monitoring for deep-seated landslides: insights from El Forn (Andorra)
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- Final revised paper (published on 25 Oct 2024)
- Preprint (discussion started on 23 Feb 2024)
Interactive discussion
Status: closed
Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor
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RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-212', Anonymous Referee #1, 25 Mar 2024
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Rachael Lau, 25 Apr 2024
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RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-212', Anonymous Referee #2, 28 Mar 2024
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Rachael Lau, 25 Apr 2024
Peer review completion
AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload
ED: Reconsider after major revisions (further review by editor and referees) (26 Apr 2024) by Yves Bühler
AR by Rachael Lau on behalf of the Authors (15 Jun 2024)
Author's response
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ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (19 Jun 2024) by Yves Bühler
RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (15 Jul 2024)
RR by Anonymous Referee #2 (17 Jul 2024)
ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (29 Jul 2024) by Yves Bühler
AR by Rachael Lau on behalf of the Authors (08 Aug 2024)
Author's response
Author's tracked changes
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ED: Publish as is (09 Aug 2024) by Yves Bühler
AR by Rachael Lau on behalf of the Authors (12 Aug 2024)
Author's response
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The paper focuses on the assessment of the capability of Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) for the monitoring of surface ground motion using two different platforms:i) the European Ground Motion Service (EGMS) platform and ii) the ASF On Demand InSAR processing tools. InSAR are also used for understanding uncertainty in modelling active landslide displacement. The case study is the instrumented El Forn deep-seated landslide in Canillo, Andorra. The purposes of this paper concern also the evaluation of InSAR as a monitoring tool and as a statistical analysis to understand the necessary number of in situ observations to reduce the error.
I have read the paper and I have some recommendations. While the topic of the paper is interesting (for instance optimization of in situ sensors), I found the content and the structure of the manuscript, in the current form, weak and with the necessity of deep modifications.
In its current form, the article needs strong modifications and major revisions.
Suggestions
I recommend including a more detailed geomorphological, geological and stratigraphical description of the area interested by the El Forn landslide. For a complete characterization of a landslide through InSAR data, it is essential to investigate the geologic context in more detail to understand the conditions under which it is developing.
I recommend extending this InSAR analysis to the entire landslide body and not just the Cal Ponet-Cal Borronet lobe sector. Because chapter 2.1 describes the presence of 12 scattered boreholes in the landslide body for monitoring that should be exploited as a real opportunity for comparison with the InSAR data. The greatest strength of satellite interferometry is the ability to monitor large areas, here authors have focused only on a very small sector of a very large landslide, missing the most important information provided by the InSAR data.
I recommend expanding the monitoring period of InSAR data, as the abstract specifies that Sentinel-1 data processed for 2019-2021 has been exploited, while Chapter 2.2 explains that interferograms from only a narrow time period between June and November 2019 were used. Again, this choice comes at the expense of one of the major strengths of the InSAR data, namely the possibility of providing long time series. Instead, focusing the analysis only to a 6-month time period and on a narrow area of the landslide appears as a serious limitation in the study. When analysing the behaviour of a landslide, it is a good practice to expand the analysis of the time series as much as possible in order to know as much information as possible.
I strongly recommend adding a chapter discussing the results before the conclusions. A chapter of discussion is essential for the explanation of the results and to understand applicability, advantages, and limitations of the proposed approach.
About the figures I suggest: