Detecting Unstable Ground by Satellite and Airborne Remote Sensing

摘要

Underground mass movement can cause subsidence, collapse sinkholes, and landslides at the earth's surface. We have used satellite and airborne remote sensing to investigate subsidence and collapse-prone ground resulting from the dissolving of salt in the Eisleben district in the German federal state of Saxony-Anhalt. Because the electromagnetic radiation utilized by remote sensing cannot penetrate the ground, early detection of hazardous ground by remote sensing will require "diagnostic features" which can serve as surface markers of subsurface situations, and which can be recorded by satellite and airborne sensors. We have tested the extent to which surface features can indicate subsurface mass movement. Integrated processing and interpretation of high-resolution aerial stereo imagery, airborne laser scanning and satellite imagery revealed surface features that are associated with fracturing, subsidence, and weakened rocks. Analysis of data recorded by the different types of sensors produced results with less ambiguity than obtained with a single sensor.