Per chi se la sente di tradurre…
http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/42/2/111.abstract?sid=12722a64-492e-45e6-9772-267748406b06

http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/03/nasa-can-now-forecast-sinkholes/

The sinkhole Nasa is basing its study on, near Bayou Corne, was a monster measuring 10.1 hectares. It was 229m (751ft) deep by the time it ceased swallowing everything in sight. In a paper published in the journal Geology, Cathleen Jones and Ron Blom, from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, have shown how radar data captured by Nasa’s Uninhabited Airborne Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) between 2011 and 2012 could have been used to predict the natural catastrophe.

Abstract

Catastrophic sinkholes are formed through the collapse of natural or human-made subterranean caverns, and are common in areas with evaporite and carbonate rock. Despite their danger, advance warning of these events is rare. We report a measurement of precursory surface deformation of as much as 260 mm, derived with interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) and evident over a month before surface collapse, at the site of the Bayou Corne, Louisiana (USA) sinkhole that formed in August 2012. Data collected by the airborne Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle SAR (UAVSAR) instrument were used for the study. Analysis of data acquired from two flight tracks with near-opposing imaging geometries reveal a deformation pattern consistent with compressive loading at the surface due to loss of support from a subterranean cavity collapse related to Texas Brine Oxy Geismar Well #3. The precursor deformation was nearly entirely horizontal, i.e., oriented along the surface, and manifested as movement of surface material toward the location where the sinkhole later formed. The sinkhole formed in the area with the largest gradient in surface strain, but did not cover the full extent of the precursory deformation detected with radar. This work suggests that InSAR data collected operationally for hazard monitoring could, in some cases, identify sinkhole development before surface collapse, and decrease subsequent danger to people and property.

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