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NASA Radar Shows a Surge in Landslide Activity in California

Learn about the surge of landslide activity in California's Palos Verdes Peninsula as measured by NASA, showing the effects of climate change and intensifying precipitation.

ByJack Knudson
View of Portuguese Bend neighborhood in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. (Credit: Matt Gush/Shutterstock) Matt Gush/Shutterstock

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In Southern California, the growing risk of landslides has put many communities on edge, demonstrated by radar data from NASA focused on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in Los Angeles County.

The peninsula, which sits south of Los Angeles and juts out into the Pacific Ocean, contains an ancient landslide complex that has been active for the past six decades. However, exacerbated by intensifying bursts of rainfall due to climate change, the gradual movement of the landslides has drastically accelerated in recent years.

The Advanced Rapid Imaging and Analysis (ARIA) team, featuring collaboration between NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech, has been eyeing the progress of the Palos Verdes landslides, recently reporting heightened activity that occurred during the fall of 2024.

Radar imagery from ARIA revealed that during a four-week period (September 18, 2024 to October 17, 2024), land in the residential area of the peninsula slid toward the ocean by ...

  • Jack Knudson

    Jack Knudson is an assistant editor at Discover with a strong interest in environmental science and history. Before joining Discover in 2023, he studied journalism at the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University and previously interned at Recycling Today magazine.

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