Landslide risk is on the rise thanks to climate change, and states are looking to identify hazards
Washington — home to deadliest landslide in the U.S. history — is working to prevent future loss of life by scanning the state for new threats. For years, small planes have buzzed across the skies of Washington carrying specialized instrument packages that peer down through the belly of the aircraft. As they soar above mountains, rivers and valleys, the machinery paints the topography below with laser light thousands of times per second, reflecting the contours of the landscape back to onboard sensors as data, which is later processed to create detailed scans of the terrain.