Application of the Digital Image Correlation Method to the Identification of Landslides

History shows that most earthquakes, which cause serious disaster, are induced by recent movement of faults. For example, the Chichi earthquake, happened on September 21 1999, has a magnitude of 7.3 and leaded to a great loss of lives and properties. The cause of this earthquake is the movement of the Chelungpu fault. The massive earthquake not only destroys the houses and roads, but also induces the landslides. Not only the earthquake but also the typhoon or heavy rainfall can induce the landslides. Because the destruction occurred mostly in remote areas, coupled with the traffic system disruption, the investigation and relief are very difficult. Digital image correlation (DIC) technique is a non-contact-type optical measurement technique. The progress of digital camera and the fast development of the computer calculation capability cause the digital image correlation technique widely applied to different research fields [1-6]. The landslides will change the appearance of the ground surface and the satellite image is already widely used in the remote sensing technology, therefore we can use the DIC method and the satellite image to monitor the occurrence of landslide. To determine the occurrence of landslides by comparing satellite images is mainly to find out the position, where correlation between two images is low. Although the algorithm of digital images correlation is to find out the highest correlation, it can be slightly modified to agree with our purpose. In this study, digital image correlation and satellite images are used to identify the occurrence of landslides. A preliminary results of automatic landslides identification are achieved by using DIC. NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) and DEM (Digital Elevation Model) are also applied to reduce the misidentification rate.