Criteria for identification of landslides in the upper Prut river basin on satellite images

Summary A research is proposed to find methodological approaches to identify the main criteria for identifying landslides in the upper Prut River basin (Ukrainian Carpathians) in satellite images. The study of landslides was conducted in the upper part of the Prut River basin, in particular in the Carpathian National Nature Park (Ivano-Frankivsk region, Ukraine). The most surveyed areas were within the settlements of Vorokhta, Tatariv, Mykulychyn and Yaremche. In general, the landslides of the south-eastern part of the Carpathians are not significant in size. According to the results of complex processing of space images by GoogleEarth, Landsat and field research, the regularities of the spread of dangerous exogenous processes and their connection with the local features of the river network and channel were revealed. Analytical and cartographic research has revealed the main criteria for identifying landslides on the maps of the spatial distribution of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and Normalized Difference Moisture Index. The conducted researches can be a basis of development of low-cost and reliable prognostic models of dangerous geomorphological processes in local territories.