SBAS-InSAR Monitoring of Landslides and Glaciers Along the Karakoram Highway Between China and Pakistan

• Published in: Remote sensing (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 17; no. 4; p. 605
• Main Authors: Khan, Basit Ali, Zhao, Chaoying, Kakar, Najeebullah, Chen, Xuerong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.02.2025
• Subjects: Climate change; Climatic changes; Datasets; Deformation; Economics; Geospatial data; glacier; Glaciers; Hazard mitigation; Human influences; Infrastructure; InSAR; KKH; Landslides; Landslides & mudslides; Local communities; Monitoring; Monitoring systems; Mountains; Real time; Remote sensing; Satellites; SBAS; Synthetic aperture radar; Terrain; Time series; Topography; China; Pakistan
• DOI: 10.3390/rs17040605
• ISSN: 2072-4292

Global assessments of landslide impact on critical communication infrastructure have become urgent because of rising occurrences related to human activities and climate change. The landslide and glacial slide susceptibility along the Karakoram Highway poses a significant threat to the infrastructure ecosystem, local communities, and the critical China–Pakistan Economic Corridor. This research paper utilized the Small Baseline Subset InSAR technique to monitor the deformation patterns over the past 5 years, yielding high-resolution insights into the terrain instability in this geologically active region. The SBAS time series results reveal that the substantial cumulative deformation in our study area ranges from 203 mm to −486 mm, with annual deformation rates spanning from 62 mm/year to −104 mm/year. Notably, the deformation that occurred is mainly concentrated in the northern section of our study area. The slope’s aspect is responsible for the maximum deformed material flow towards the Karakoram Highway via steep slopes, lost glacial formations, and the climate variations that cause the instability of the terrain. The given pattern suggests that the northern area of the Karakoram Highway is exposed to a greater risk from the combined influence of glacial slides, landslides, and climatic shifts, which call for the increased monitoring of the Karakoram Highway. The SBAS-InSAR method is first-rate in deformation monitoring, and it provides a scientific basis for developing real-time landslide monitoring systems. The line of sight limitations and the complexity and imprecision of weather-induced signal degradation should be balanced through additional data sources, such as field surveys to conduct large slide and glacial slide susceptibility evaluations. These research results support proactive hazard mitigation and infrastructure planning along the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor by incorporating SBAS-InSAR monitoring into the original planning. The country’s trade policymakers and national level engineers can enhance transport resilience, efficiently manage the landslide and glacial slide risks, and guarantee safer infrastructure along this strategic trade route.