Landslides Triggered by Medicane Ianos in Greece, September 2020: Rapid Satellite Mapping and Field Survey

Medicanes, a type of strong hurricanes/cyclones occurring in the Mediterranean, can be the source of major geohazard events in Mediterranean coastal and inland areas. Medicane Ianos that hit Greece during 17–19 September 2020 caused widespread damage, with numerous landsides and floods being the mos...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sotiris Valkaniotis, George Papathanassiou, Vassilis Marinos, Charalampos Saroglou, Dimitrios Zekkos, Vasileios Kallimogiannis, Efstratios Karantanellis, Ioannis Farmakis, Georgios Zalachoris, John Manousakis, Olga-Joan Ktenidou
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-12-01
Series:Applied Sciences
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/12/23/12443
Description
Summary:Medicanes, a type of strong hurricanes/cyclones occurring in the Mediterranean, can be the source of major geohazard events in Mediterranean coastal and inland areas. Medicane Ianos that hit Greece during 17–19 September 2020 caused widespread damage, with numerous landsides and floods being the most prominent. Following the landfall of Medicane Ianos, a series of field surveys were launched together with rapid response through satellite imagery. We focused on two of the areas most affected by Medicane Ianos, Cephalonia island and Karditsa, Thessaly, both in Greece. A rapid landslide inventory for the Karditsa region was prepared using Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite imagery, the first of its kind for a severe weather event in Greece. The mountainous area of Karditsa region in western Thessaly experienced the unprecedented number of 1696 landslides, mapped through satellite imagery and examined in the field. Cephalonia Island experienced a smaller number of landsides but damaging debris flows and severe structural damages. The rapid landside inventory was then compared to new methods of automated landslide mapping through change detection of satellite imagery.
ISSN:2076-3417