Landslide Inventories across the United States version 2
Dates
Publication Date
2022-06-03
Citation
Belair, G.M., Jones, E.S., Slaughter, S.L., and Mirus, B.B., 2022, Landslide Inventories across the United States version 2: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9FZUX6N.
Summary
Landslides are damaging and deadly, and they occur in every U.S. state. However, our current ability to understand landslide hazards at the national scale is limited, in part because spatial data on landslide occurrence across the U.S. varies greatly in quality, accessibility, and extent. Landslide inventories are typically collected and maintained by different agencies and institutions, usually within specific jurisdictional boundaries, and often with varied objectives and information attributes or even in disparate formats. The purpose of this data release is to provide an openly accessible, centralized map of existing information on landslide occurrence across the entire U.S. The data release includes digital inventories created [...]
Summary
Landslides are damaging and deadly, and they occur in every U.S. state. However, our current ability to understand landslide hazards at the national scale is limited, in part because spatial data on landslide occurrence across the U.S. varies greatly in quality, accessibility, and extent. Landslide inventories are typically collected and maintained by different agencies and institutions, usually within specific jurisdictional boundaries, and often with varied objectives and information attributes or even in disparate formats. The purpose of this data release is to provide an openly accessible, centralized map of existing information on landslide occurrence across the entire U.S. The data release includes digital inventories created by both USGS and non-USGS authors. It provides an integrated database of all the landslides with a selection of uniform attributes, but also includes links to the original digital inventory files (whenever available). Given the wide range of landslide information sources in this data compilation, we also provide an attribute to assess the relative confidence in the characterization of the location and extent of each landslide. The confidence level reflects the resolution and quality of input data, as well as the method used for identification and mapping of each landslide. We include a classification attribute for polygons to differentiate between individually mapped landslides and features that are evidence of landsliding. Such evidence may include landslide complexes, Quaternary landslide deposits, alluvial fans, unstable slopes, landslide impacts, and other evidence indicative of landslide occurrence. Further details about each landslide and more recent information (when it exists) can be accessed by clicking the “InventoryURL” attribute link to the original source information. Relative to the initial data release (version 1), this update (version 2) includes more inventories, updated confidence rules, and a new classification attribute. This database will be updated intermittently using the version 2 doi, and was most recently updated in March 2022. Please contact gs-haz_landslides_inventory@usgs.gov for more information on how to contribute additional inventories to this community effort.
This project compiled data on landslide occurrence within the U.S. into a searchable, web-based map interface that can be used by researchers, emergency planners, and the public. This interface enhances access to landslide information and facilitates future integration of other interdisciplinary spatial data into national scale risk assessment products.
