Call for Papers

Spatial and temporal evolution of landslides induced by global climate change

Submission deadline: Wednesday, 31 December 2025

With the global climate continually changing, often for the worse, there is increasing attention on its diverse impacts. The shifts in precipitation patterns, temperature increases, and the frequency of intense weather events are among the climate-related changes that influence the propensity for landslides.

Landslides exist as a natural phenomenon that results primarily from the gravitational forces acting on sloped terrains. Notwithstanding, external factors like water from rainfall and human activities, such as deforestation and infrastructure development on unstable land, commonly play into triggering these events. Recent findings, however, suggest a growing link between the occurrence of landslides and global climate change.

Excessive or intense rainfall, attributable to the changing climate, is one of the significant triggers of landslides. A warmer atmosphere accommodates more moisture, leading to heavier rainfall, which, in turn, increases the saturation and weight of soil on slopes, decreasing the stability of the land. Predictions by climate models imply that extreme precipitation events will become more frequent, potentially increasing the frequency and magnitude of landslide events globally.

Increasing temperatures are equally affecting permafrost in colder regions where the icy soil lends stability to slopes. Melting permafrost due to warmer temperatures undermines the structural integrity of these slopes, leaving them predisposed to landslides. Climate change, therefore, portends increased landslide activity in these colder regions of the earth.

Sea-level rise, another adverse effect of global warming, is resulting in submarine landslides, particularly in coastal and marine environments. The increased pore water pressure and reduced soil stability due to rising water levels may potentially induce landslides in these regions.

Understanding these associations between global climate change and landslides is crucial, especially with the increasing need for effective disaster risk reduction. To establish a more comprehensive landslide risk prevention and control system, it is essential to consider the spatial distribution patterns of large-scale landslides and their dynamic evolution processes. This necessitates the use of big data, geographic information systems (GIS), numerical calculations, and physical model experiments, among other means, to quantify various triggering factors and achieve a real-time correlation between extreme climate events and landslide risks.

This special collection is calling for submissions of original studies that study the landslide risk assessment induced by global climate change. Reviews that are well summarized and of far-sighted prospects are also encouraged.


Topics for this call for papers include but are not restricted to:

  • Global climate change
  • Landslide susceptibility analysis
  • Evolution mechanism of landslides

Guest Editors:

Luqi Wang
Chongqing University
China

Chun Zhu
Hohai University
China

Chang Zhou
China University of Mining and Technology
China

Yanzhi Wang
University of New South Wales
Australia

Chenyang Zhang
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hong Kong


Keywords: Extreme climate events; Landslide susceptibility; Risk prevention; Evolution mechanism; Big data; Numerical simulation


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