Early warning of meteorological geohazard in the Loess Plateau: a study in Huangling County of Shaanxi Province in China

Geohazards have become an increasingly serious problem in the Loess Plateau of China, affecting both the national economy and the livelihood of the local population. Using detailed field surveys of geohazards over many years, in conjunction with meteorological information, this paper analyzes the relationships between the characteristics of the spatial and temporal distributions of geohazards and rainfall within the study area of Huangling County in Shaanxi Province, China. A very close relationship was found between the occurrence of geohazards and rainfall distribution, indicating that rainfall is the principal driving force behind landslides, collapses, debris flows and other geohazards. Based on the analysis of the law of development of geohazards within the study area, in combination with rainfall data from the time of occurrence of local geohazards, a threshold for the early warning of meteorologically related geohazards is determined. A geohazard weather forecasting model is established based on rainfall observations and forecasts and it is applied to the study area. The results show that the model performs reasonably well and that it is beneficial to local government departments with regard to the implementation of appropriate preventive measures.