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Wet- and dry-climate landslides both speed up in wet years

Across California’s huge rainfall gradient, slow landslides still accelerate when local water years are wetter than average.

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How many active slow-moving landslides were mapped?

247 in California.

Where are most of them?

230 of 247 in the Coast Ranges, spanning nearly the state’s latitude.

What lithology hosts 71% of the slides?

Franciscan complex mélange.

What rainfall range separates the wettest and driest active slides?

2180 mm/yr versus 216 mm/yr (30-year means).

How fast did the 38-slide subset move on average?

0.85 ± 0.56 to 9.7 ± 1.2 cm/yr.

In which water years were slides faster versus slower than average?

Faster in wet WY2017 and WY2019; slower in drier WY2016 and WY2018.

How is Precipitation Ratio defined?

Water-year precipitation divided by the 1990–2019 mean at each landslide.

What first-order behaviours are shared across the rainfall gradient?

Seasonal/annual displacement tracks local rainfall, and slides are sensitive to seasonal through multi-annual rain changes.

How many interferograms were used?

1689 ARIA Sentinel-1 interferograms covering California.

What pixel spacing limits which slides can be seen?

About 90 m, so mapped slides are mostly large (0.018–11 km2, mean 0.5 km2).

What InSAR bias is noted?

1D line-of-sight cannot detect motion parallel to the satellite heading.