Journal Article

A Dynamic Landslide Susceptibility Assessment Method Based on Multi-Source Remote Sensing, XGBoost, and SHAP: A Case Study in Yongsheng County, Yunnan Province

Li, Wei, Rong, Xingxing, Zhao, Dan, Yan, Shuhao, Guo, Yixuan, Wang, Shanshan

2026

Overview

Landslide susceptibility assessment (LSA) heavily depends on the completeness of landslide inventories and the interpretability of predictive models. Conventional inventories, based solely on historical records, often fail to identify newly occurring or slow-moving landslides, leading to biased susceptibility estimates. To address this limitation, this study proposes a dynamic LSA framework that integrates multi-source remote sensing data, Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) modeling, and Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP), with a case study in Yongsheng County, Yunnan Province, China. This study jointly uses multi-temporal optical remote sensing imagery and Sentinel-1 InSAR (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar) deformation data to update the landslide inventory. Compared with the historical inventory containing 334 landslide points, the updated inventory incorporates an additional 140 deformation-related landslide hazard points. XGBoost models were developed using conditioning factors selected through multicollinearity analysis to evaluate the influence of inventory completeness on model performance. Results show that the model based on the updated inventory achieves a significant improvement in predictive accuracy. SHAP-based interpretation reveals that distance to roads and maximum deformation rate are the dominant factors controlling landslide occurrence, reflecting the combined effects of human activities and dynamic ground deformation. The resulting susceptibility map shows that the Area Under the Curve (AUC) value for susceptibility zoning of the updated sample increases from 0.857 to 0.928, with high and very high susceptibility zones occupying 8.28% of the study area. Overall, the proposed framework improves both the accuracy and interpretability of LSA and demonstrates the effectiveness of multi-source remote sensing data for dynamic landslide hazard assessment in mountainous regions.

• Publisher: MDPI AG
• Subject: Accuracy / Artificial satellites in remote sensing / Case studies / China / Comparative analysis / Completeness / Datasets / Deformation / Deformation effects / Fault lines / Geological hazards / Geology / Geomorphology / Hazard assessment / Hydrology / InSAR deformation / Interferometric synthetic aperture radar / landslide inventory updating / landslide susceptibility assessment / Landslides / Landslides & mudslides / Machine learning / Methods / Mountain regions / Mountainous areas / multi-source remote sensing / Prediction models / Remote sensing / River networks / Roads & highways / SHAP / Susceptibility / Synthetic aperture radar / Topography / Variables / XGBoost