The devastating landslide of Oso, Washington, which claimed the lives of 43 people on March 22, 2014, continues to alter the landscape. Quantum Spatial conducted a LiDAR survey of the area 2 days after the initial catastrophe in order to understand the event and aid the recovery efforts. A second collection occurred on June 21, 2014 to map the excavation of the debris and subsidence of the flooding which originally occurred due to the landslide deposits cutting off the North Fork of the Stillaguamish River. The flooding caused from the initial debris flow has subsided substantially, and a new river channel is emerging through the area.
High resolution terrain models generated from the LiDAR provide an accurate way of analyzing subtle topographic change. The video shows a bare-earth LiDAR-derived hillshade of the Oso Landslide across time: In 2013, prior to the mudslide; on March 24th, two days after the event; and on June 21st.The color overlay is the change in elevation between the March 24th and June 21st LiDAR data.