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Persistent Scatterers Interferometry (PSI) represents one of the most powerful techniques for Earth's surface deformation processes' monitoring, especially for long-term evolution phenomena. In this work, a dataset of 34 TerraSAR-X StripMap images (October 2013–October 2014) has been processed by two PSI techniques - Coherent Pixel Technique-Temporal Sublook Coherence (CPT-TSC) and Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) - in order to study the evolution of a slow-moving landslide which occurred on February 23, 2012 in the Papanice hamlet (Crotone municipality, southern Italy) and induced by a significant rainfall event (185 mm in three days). The mass movement caused structural damage (buildings' collapse), and destruction of utility lines (gas, water and electricity) and roads. The results showed analogous displacement rates (30–40 mm/yr along the Line of Sight – LOS-of the satellite) with respect to the pre-failure phase (2008–2010) analyzed in previous works. Both approaches allowed detect the landslide-affected area, however the higher density of targets identified by means of CPT-TSC enabled to analyze in detail the slope behavior in order to design possible mitigation interventions. For this aim, a slope stability analysis has been carried out, considering the comparison between groundwater oscillations and time-series of displacement. Hence, the crucial role of the interaction between rainfall and groundwater level has been inferred for the landslide triggering. In conclusion, we showed that the integration of geotechnical and remote sensing approaches can be seen as the best practice to support stakeholders to design remedial works.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Landslides are recognized as one of the most damaging natural hazards in Italy. Campania region represents a complex geological setting, where mass movements of different types are widespread, and urban expansion can be increasingly seen by the presence of buildings and infrastructure in landslide-prone areas. In such a context, monitoring of unstable slopes represents a key activity in the process of landslide risk prevention and mitigation, in order to correctly establish a cause-effect correlation and to predict the possible reactivation phases that may result in high costs for the human society. This article focuses on the application of different methods of landslide analysis and monitoring, including those developed more recently and based on data acquired by satellites and processed by synthetic aperture radar (SAR) interferometric techniques. The study area is a small town, Calitri, known worldwide for the large landslide reactivated by the 23 November 1980 earthquake that destroyed a large sector of the historical centre. The site has been investigated by two ground-monitoring campaigns, the analysis of which allowed identification of the evolution of landslide activity over time. Furthermore, differential SAR interferometry (DInSAR), based upon two different approaches, allowed us to produce point-wise and wide area deformation maps after processing data sets of Earth Resource Satellite 1/2 (ERS-1/2) images, respectively acquired in 1992-2001 and 1992-1995. The results obtained from this analysis highlighted the potentiality of remote-sensing tools in landslide hazard assessment and led to development of a research project based on the installation of corner reflectors along unstable slopes and aimed at creating a field-Earth observation monitoring system. © 2012 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Mudslides are widespread in the world, especially in areas occupied by highly-fissured plastic stiff clays. Despite their strong impact on structures, infrastructures and, in general, human activity, the knowledge concerning the causes and mechanisms of mudslides is still rather limited. The paper reports some results of long-term research on mudslides in tectonised highlyfissured plastic clay shales carried out through laboratory and in situ tests, monitoring and numerical analyses.

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