A Robust Satellite Technique for Monitoring Landslides Impact on Electrical Infrastructures

Infrastructure systems, such as electrical lines, play a vital role in modern society. However, natural disasters such as landslide in recent years has severely disrupted these critical infrastructure systems. In this regard, it is crucial to have timely information on infrastructure damage to enable effective disaster response, ensure the safety of affected populations, and facilitate the recovery and rebuilding process following sudden-onset disasters. This study utilized a robust satellite technique (RST) to detect possible damage due to, even small, landslides along electrical lines in Sicily, Italy. Aerial photographs of the electrical lines until the year 2023 were gathered to pinpoint displaced electrical poles. The data collected by the Multispectral Instrument (MSI) sensor aboard the Copernicus Sentinel-2 platforms were processed to investigate poles affected by landslides in the Google Earth Engine (GEE) environment. This was done using land-cover information monitored by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from 2016 to 2023. The results of this study reveal that out of the two targeted electrical poles, one of them exhibited anomalies > 2-sigma, indicating significant changes in land cover possibly related to significant local land movement. This is also confirmed by aerial photos obtained from 2016 to 2022. Additionally no anomalies were detected by RST in correspondence of poles exhibiting no any displacement as confirmed by aerial photos from 2015-2023. The results of this preliminary study seem to confirm the efficiency of an RST-like approach also for small landslide detection.