Climatic & Anthropogenic Hazards to the Nasca World Heritage: Application of Remote Sensing, AI, and Flood Modelling
This work addresses preservation of a UNESCO World Heritage Site from climatic and human impacts, with incremental application of existing methods to new data.
The study tackled the threat of flashfloods to the Nasca geoglyphs in Peru by using remote sensing and AI to identify vulnerable artifacts, resulting in specific recommendations to protect iconic geoglyphs like the 'lizard' and 'hand' from erosion.
Preservation of the Nasca geoglyphs at the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Peru is urgent as natural and human impact accelerates. More frequent weather extremes such as flashfloods threaten Nasca artifacts. We demonstrate that runoff models based on (sub-)meter scale, LiDAR-derived digital elevation data can highlight AI-detected geoglyphs that are in danger of erosion. We recommend measures of mitigation to protect the famous "lizard", "tree", and "hand" geoglyphs located close by, or even cut by the Pan-American Highway.