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Weatherwatch: A record year for landslides? Weatherwatch: A record year for landslides?
(2 months later)
Few of us will forget last summer: it rained and rained and rained. Met Office statistics showed that 2012 was the second wettest year in the UK since records began in 1910. And with that rain came landslides. From Burton Bradstock in Dorset (where a section of cliff fell onto the beach, tragically killing one person) to Argyll and Bute in Scotland (where a landslide on the A83 left drivers with a 55 mile detour), the extra rainfall turned the UK's rocks to slurry. In total 164 landslides were recorded: more than two and a half times the annual average. But was the rain really to blame?Few of us will forget last summer: it rained and rained and rained. Met Office statistics showed that 2012 was the second wettest year in the UK since records began in 1910. And with that rain came landslides. From Burton Bradstock in Dorset (where a section of cliff fell onto the beach, tragically killing one person) to Argyll and Bute in Scotland (where a landslide on the A83 left drivers with a 55 mile detour), the extra rainfall turned the UK's rocks to slurry. In total 164 landslides were recorded: more than two and a half times the annual average. But was the rain really to blame?
Analysis of the statistics, carried out by the British Geological Survey (BGS), has shown that it isn't that simple. As expected, the scientists found that many more landslides occurred soon after the wettest months, with four times as many landslides in July and December 2012 for example, following atrocious downpours in the preceding months.Analysis of the statistics, carried out by the British Geological Survey (BGS), has shown that it isn't that simple. As expected, the scientists found that many more landslides occurred soon after the wettest months, with four times as many landslides in July and December 2012 for example, following atrocious downpours in the preceding months.
But it wasn't just rain that deluged us in 2012; there was a flood of social media too. By comparing 2012 statistics with previous years the BGS scientists show that social media may be skewing the data. Small landslides, which would have gone unreported and unrecorded in the past, are now tweeted about the instant they happen. Ultimately this extra source of data could provide a more accurate assessment of how many landslips there are, but in 2012 eager tweeters may have created an apparent leap in landslides.But it wasn't just rain that deluged us in 2012; there was a flood of social media too. By comparing 2012 statistics with previous years the BGS scientists show that social media may be skewing the data. Small landslides, which would have gone unreported and unrecorded in the past, are now tweeted about the instant they happen. Ultimately this extra source of data could provide a more accurate assessment of how many landslips there are, but in 2012 eager tweeters may have created an apparent leap in landslides.
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