Multi-Temporal Satellite Interferometry for Fast-Motion Detection: An Application to Salt Solution Mining
Underground mining is one of the human activities with the highest impact in terms of induced ground motion. The excavation of the mining levels creates pillars, rooms and cavities that can evolve in chimney collapses and sinkholes. This is a major threat where the mining activity is carried out in...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-11-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/23/3919 |
| _version_ | 1827701107440222208 |
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| author | Lorenzo Solari Roberto Montalti Anna Barra Oriol Monserrat Silvia Bianchini Michele Crosetto |
| author_facet | Lorenzo Solari Roberto Montalti Anna Barra Oriol Monserrat Silvia Bianchini Michele Crosetto |
| author_sort | Lorenzo Solari |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Underground mining is one of the human activities with the highest impact in terms of induced ground motion. The excavation of the mining levels creates pillars, rooms and cavities that can evolve in chimney collapses and sinkholes. This is a major threat where the mining activity is carried out in an urban context. Thus, there is a clear need for tools and instruments able to precisely quantify mining-induced deformation. Topographic measurements certainly offer very high spatial accuracy and temporal repeatability, but they lack in spatial distribution of measurement points. In the past decades, Multi-Temporal Satellite Interferometry (MTInSAR) has become one of the most reliable techniques for monitoring ground motion, including mining-induced deformation. Although with well-known limitations when high deformation rates and frequently changing land surfaces are involved, MTInSAR has been exploited to evaluate the surface motion in several mining area worldwide. In this paper, a detailed scale MTInSAR approach was designed to characterize ground deformation in the salt solution mining area of Saline di Volterra (Tuscany Region, central Italy). This mining activity has a relevant environmental impact, depleting the water resource and inducing ground motion; sinkholes are a common consequence. The MTInSAR processing approach is based on the direct integration of interferograms derived from Sentinel-1 images and on the phase splitting between low (LF) and high (HF) frequency components. Phase unwrapping is performed for the LF and HF components on a set of points selected through a “triplets closure” method. The final deformation map is derived by combining again the components to avoid error accumulation and by applying a classical atmospheric phase filtering to remove the remaining low frequency signal. The results obtained reveal the presence of several subsidence bowls, sometimes corresponding to sinkholes formed in the recent past. Very high deformation rates, up to −250 mm/yr, and time series with clear trend changes are registered. In addition, the spatial and temporal distribution of velocities and time series is analyzed, with a focus on the correlation with sinkhole occurrence. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:27:03Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4dc0409ae10b4cde99641fc8633c67b3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:27:03Z |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-4dc0409ae10b4cde99641fc8633c67b32023-11-20T22:53:22ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922020-11-011223391910.3390/rs12233919Multi-Temporal Satellite Interferometry for Fast-Motion Detection: An Application to Salt Solution MiningLorenzo Solari0Roberto Montalti1Anna Barra2Oriol Monserrat3Silvia Bianchini4Michele Crosetto5Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC/CERCA), Division of Geomatics, Avenida Gauss, 7, 08860 Castelldefels, SpainTRE Altamira, Carrer de Còrsega, 381, 08037 Barcelona, SpainCentre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC/CERCA), Division of Geomatics, Avenida Gauss, 7, 08860 Castelldefels, SpainCentre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC/CERCA), Division of Geomatics, Avenida Gauss, 7, 08860 Castelldefels, SpainDepartment of Earth Sciences, University of Firenze, Via La Pira, 4 50121 Firenze, ItalyCentre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (CTTC/CERCA), Division of Geomatics, Avenida Gauss, 7, 08860 Castelldefels, SpainUnderground mining is one of the human activities with the highest impact in terms of induced ground motion. The excavation of the mining levels creates pillars, rooms and cavities that can evolve in chimney collapses and sinkholes. This is a major threat where the mining activity is carried out in an urban context. Thus, there is a clear need for tools and instruments able to precisely quantify mining-induced deformation. Topographic measurements certainly offer very high spatial accuracy and temporal repeatability, but they lack in spatial distribution of measurement points. In the past decades, Multi-Temporal Satellite Interferometry (MTInSAR) has become one of the most reliable techniques for monitoring ground motion, including mining-induced deformation. Although with well-known limitations when high deformation rates and frequently changing land surfaces are involved, MTInSAR has been exploited to evaluate the surface motion in several mining area worldwide. In this paper, a detailed scale MTInSAR approach was designed to characterize ground deformation in the salt solution mining area of Saline di Volterra (Tuscany Region, central Italy). This mining activity has a relevant environmental impact, depleting the water resource and inducing ground motion; sinkholes are a common consequence. The MTInSAR processing approach is based on the direct integration of interferograms derived from Sentinel-1 images and on the phase splitting between low (LF) and high (HF) frequency components. Phase unwrapping is performed for the LF and HF components on a set of points selected through a “triplets closure” method. The final deformation map is derived by combining again the components to avoid error accumulation and by applying a classical atmospheric phase filtering to remove the remaining low frequency signal. The results obtained reveal the presence of several subsidence bowls, sometimes corresponding to sinkholes formed in the recent past. Very high deformation rates, up to −250 mm/yr, and time series with clear trend changes are registered. In addition, the spatial and temporal distribution of velocities and time series is analyzed, with a focus on the correlation with sinkhole occurrence.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/23/3919multi-temporal interferometryminingsalt dissolutionMTInSARsinkholes |
| spellingShingle | Lorenzo Solari Roberto Montalti Anna Barra Oriol Monserrat Silvia Bianchini Michele Crosetto Multi-Temporal Satellite Interferometry for Fast-Motion Detection: An Application to Salt Solution Mining Remote Sensing multi-temporal interferometry mining salt dissolution MTInSAR sinkholes |
| title | Multi-Temporal Satellite Interferometry for Fast-Motion Detection: An Application to Salt Solution Mining |
| title_full | Multi-Temporal Satellite Interferometry for Fast-Motion Detection: An Application to Salt Solution Mining |
| title_fullStr | Multi-Temporal Satellite Interferometry for Fast-Motion Detection: An Application to Salt Solution Mining |
| title_full_unstemmed | Multi-Temporal Satellite Interferometry for Fast-Motion Detection: An Application to Salt Solution Mining |
| title_short | Multi-Temporal Satellite Interferometry for Fast-Motion Detection: An Application to Salt Solution Mining |
| title_sort | multi temporal satellite interferometry for fast motion detection an application to salt solution mining |
| topic | multi-temporal interferometry mining salt dissolution MTInSAR sinkholes |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/23/3919 |
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