Are Landslides a Climate Change Consequence?

On Wednesday, 3 June 202O, an incredible landslide was caught on video at Kråknes in Alta, in the north of Norway (Petley, 2020). It has swept away and damaged eight houses and a few cabins. Fortunately, the incident did not harm anyone, as all people had already left the area (Nikel, 2020).

“The slide was 650 meters (2,133 feet) wide and 150 meters (492 feet) deep.” According to Anders Bjordal, a Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate engineer, this landslide of this scale seldom happens in Norway, maybe every one or two years (Kennedy & Woodyatt, 2020).

This event is ascertained to be a quick clay landslide. One of the owners of the houses, Jan Egil Bakkeby, says that he saw a tension crack downslope from their cabin on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, it rained just before the landslide occurred (Petley, 2020).

Links Between Landslides and Climate Change

Two studies discuss the relationship between changes in precipitation patterns caused by climate change and landslides.

First is the study by Rianna, G. and others investigating several landslides and their connection to rainfall activity. Using a climate model, they can predict the long-term behaviour of landslides (Rianna, Zollo, Tommas, et al., 2014).

Second, Gariano and Guzzeti’s study of climate change’s effects on the stability of natural and engineered slopes resulted in landslides. Most of the papers examined in the study show a causal relationship between landslides and climate change.

Climate drivers like changes in temperatures, rainfall patterns, wind, and weather systems can affect the stability conditions of slopes, which can lead to landslides (Gariano & Guzzetti, 2016).

An article from Inside Climate News says, “As more permafrost thaws and water seeps deeper into mountain crags, extreme storms can trigger dangerous landslides and rockfalls.”  And it is not just that the planet is heating up but that a “denser blanket of GHG is sending warmer air and water deeper into the planet’s rocky bones.”  Rocks and soils that used to stay frozen for most of the year are thawing and eroding faster, which increases the chance for mudslides with rain assisting it in motion, says Ketil Isaksen, a climate scientist from the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (Berwyn, 2018).

Thomas Thaler, an Austrian hydrologist, says it is crucial to know climate change’s impact on rainfall because it has the most influence on landslides and debris flow. He adds that climate change can not only increase the magnitude but also the frequency of these events (Berwyn, 2018).