LINKING LANDSLIDE VELOCITY CHANGES AND CLIMATE IN THE WESTERN CANADIAN SEDIMENTARY BASIN

Slowly moving landslides in the weak glacial sediments and shale bedrock of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) are intersected by both linear infrastructure and settlements and have been documented to cost infrastructure owners over CDN $ 400 Million annually (Porter et al, 2019) in relation to maintenance and repairs. Although there have been numerous high activity years documented in the past decades, the relation between hydroclimatic conditions and landslide velocity change has not been well quantified. In order to develop a quantitative regional prediction model that correlates landslide velocity and hydroclimatic factors such as, precipitation, snow melt and soil moisture, a series of private companies and government agencies have contributed to the assembly of a regional data set of landslide velocity data. This initial phase of this week has involved the discovery and compilation of both continuous and discontinuous geotechnical monitoring data, supplemented with space-based InSAR data. This displacement data has been linked hydroclimatic data derived from both sensor and satellite data to develop preliminary regional thresholds. The next phases will integrate the various data sets into machine learning models to support the development of regional predictive models to support operational response.