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Monitoring and evaluation of gully erosion in China's largest loess tableland based on SBAS-InSAR

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Abstract

Gully erosion is widespread in central China's ecologically fragile loess plateau. However, research on the monitoring and evaluation of large-scale erosion is scarce. Here, we collected 16 pairs of Sentinel-1A images from the rainy season, spanning April 5-October 26, 2019, subsidence is then quantified and its results can indirectly reflect the intensity of erosion on the largest loess plateau in China, the Dongzhiyuan tableland, using small baseline subset synthetic aperture radar interferometry (SBAS-InSAR). The results showed that, the average erosion rate was 9 mm/year, throughout the study area, Surprisingly, the average erosion rate in the gully reached 160 mm/year, the sides of the gully correspond to the most extensive and intense erosion. Heavy rainfall, slope gradients below 15°, changes in groundwater levels due to freeze–thaw action and water infiltration during rainfall, and lack of vegetation due to continued gully side erosion, drive the intense erosion. These results demonstrate the reliable ability of the SBAS-InSAR method in accurately assessing large-scale gully erosion. The InSAR-calculated subsidence demonstrates a strong predictive capability for soil erosion and is generally consistent with previously observed levels of erosion, although much noise interference also occurs. Therefore, in the future InSAR-calculated sedimentation could be used as an indirect measure of erosion levels at multiple watershed scales.

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Funding

This research was funded by The Science and Technology Research Project of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission, grant number KJQN202100624, and The Science and Technology Research Program of Chongqing Municipal Education Commission, grant number KJQN201900628.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chongqing Engineering Research Center of Spatial Big Data Intelligent Technology, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing, 400065, China

    Haibo Tian, Yuxiang Tao, **lang Kou, **aobo Luo, Chenyu Gong, Yunpeng Fan, Changjian Lei & Yongcheng Gou

  2. Key Laboratory of Tourism Multisource Data Perception and Decision, Ministry of Culture and Tourism (TMDPD, MCT), Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing, 400065, China

    Yuxiang Tao & **lang Kou

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, Catholic University of the North, 999160, Antofagasta, Chile

    Andres Alonso

  4. Institute for Risk and Uncertainty, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 72F, UK

    Andres Alonso

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  1. Haibo Tian
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Contributions

Yuxiang Tao contributed to conceptualization; **aobo Luo contributed to data curation; Yongcheng Gou contributed to investigation; Haibo Tian and **lang Kou contributed to methodology; Haibo Tian and **lang Kou contributed to software; Haibo Tian contributed to visualization; Haibo Tian contributed to writing—original drafts; Yuxiang Tao, **lang Kou, Andres Alonso, Haibo Tian, Chenyu Gong, Yunpeng Fan, Changjian Lei contributed to writing—review and editing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yuxiang Tao.

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Tian, H., Tao, Y., Kou, P. et al. Monitoring and evaluation of gully erosion in China's largest loess tableland based on SBAS-InSAR. Nat Hazards 117, 2435–2454 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-023-05950-x

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