Climate-physiographically differentiated Pan-European landslide susceptibility assessment using spatial multi-criteria evaluation and transnational landslide information

Pan-European landslide susceptibility mapping: ELSUS Version 2

“…The landslide susceptibility evaluation for ELSUS V2 was performed for the same seven climate-physiographic zones as delineated for ELSUS 1000 (Günther et al, 2014), derived from GTOPO 30 data according to Nordregio (2004) and Köppen climate zone information (Peel, Finlayson, & McMahon, 2007). The climate-physiographic regions defining the ELSUS model zones are shown as an inset in the main map.…”

“…We consider these data more relevant for landslide susceptibility evaluation than the unsystematic soil parent material data of the ESDB (Heineke et al, 1998;Panagos et al, 2012) used for ELSUS 1000. As discussed in Günther et al (2014), soil parent material descriptions over Europe, as derived from the ESDB, are only partly lithological but also genetical and therefore hard to be spatially evaluated. In contrast, IHME 1500 class descriptions are more strictly related to lithological/petrographical material properties.…”

“…As detailed in Günther et al (2014), the ELSUS methodology used Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP, Saaty, 1980) combined with spatial multi-criteria evaluations (SMCE) to compute a landslide susceptibility index (LSI) for each model zone. In the SMCE-based AHP, the specific weight of the three environmental parameters (slope gradient, shallow subsurface lithology and land cover) was obtained for 'plain' and 'mountainous' model zones using the same pairwise comparisons as for ELSUS 1000 (Table 2).…”

“…Sakkas, Misailidis, Sakellariou, Kouskouna, & Kaviris, 2016) are often performed without landslide information. Only a few studies utilize such data for continental (Günther, Van Den Eeckhaut, Malet, Reichenbach, & Hervás, 2014; or national-level assessments (e.g. Castellanos Abella & van Westen, 2008;Gaprindashvili & van Westen, 2016;Malet, Puissant, Mathieu, Van Den Eeckhaut, & Fressard, 2013).…”

“…Castellanos Abella & van Westen, 2008;Gaprindashvili & van Westen, 2016;Malet, Puissant, Mathieu, Van Den Eeckhaut, & Fressard, 2013). In this contribution, we present the updated version of the continental European Landslide Susceptibility map ELSUS 1000 reported in Günther et al (2014). The methodological approach for the elaboration, validation and classification of ELSUS V2 is the same as the previous version, but the new map is prepared with new thematic data sets.…”