scholarly journals Complex of Geophysical Studies of the Seyakha Catastrophic Gas Blowout Crater on the Yamal Peninsula, Russian Arctic

Geosciences ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 215
Author(s):  
Vasily Bogoyavlensky ◽  
Igor Bogoyavlensky ◽  
Roman Nikonov ◽  
Aleksei Kishankov

This article describes the main results of two Arctic expeditions in 2017–2018 to study the Seyakha Crater in the north of Western Siberia, Yamal Peninsula. It was formed on a place of a pingo-like feature (PLF) by huge blowout, self-ignition, and explosion of gas on 28 June 2017. In 2018, for the first time, the integration of geophysical studies on the Yamal Peninsula revealed in detail an Arctic gas-blowout crater within a river channel and adjacent land with permafrost. On the basis of unmanned aerial vehicle photography, echo sounding, and ground penetrating radar survey data processing, a 3D digital elevation model (DEM) of the crater and the structure of near-surface deposits was created. A previously unknown uplift inside the permafrost layers, probably connected with the processes of gas chamber formation, was revealed. A long period of continuous gas emission (mainly, biogenic methane) from the Seyakha C11 Crater (2017–2019) and other existing data show evidence for a gas-dynamic mechanism of the PLF growth and a volcanic type of eruption.

2020 ◽  
pp. 90-105
Author(s):  
V.I. Bogoyavlensky ◽  
◽  
I.V. Bogoyavlensky ◽  
T.N. Kargina ◽  
R.A. Nikonov ◽  
...  

In the course of the three years work in the Arctic with ArcticDEM digital elevation models (DEM), the researchers have obtained fundamentally new results on the natural catastrophic transformations of the landscapes of the Yamal Peninsula in the process of powerful gas blowouts and explosions. They have proved the possibility of detecting gas-explosive objects and processes during regional 4D monitoring based on DEM processing, and in the course of the retrospective 4D monitoring, have identified a number of potential gas blowout objects. The authors have identified disadvantages and proved the need for further improvement of the ArcticDEM data. They have built 3D-models of the areas of catastrophic induced gas blowouts during the drilling of exploration wells in the Arctic, including the Kumzhinskoye field. Using an unmanned aerial vehicle (drone DJI Mavic Pro), the researchers carried out aerial photography and built 3D models of a number of gas blowout craters. For the first time in Yamal, they performed an underground aerial photography of the gas blowout crater space C17, indicating the existence of a gas-sat


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 332-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jānis Karušs ◽  
Kristaps Lamsters ◽  
Anatolii Chernov ◽  
Māris Krievāns ◽  
Jurijs Ješkins

AbstractThis study presents the first subglacial topography and ice thickness models of the largest ice caps of the Argentine Islands, Wilhelm Archipelago, West Antarctica. During this study, ground-penetrating radar was used to map the thickness and inner structure of the ice caps. Digital surface models of all studied islands were created from aerial images obtained with a small-sized unmanned aerial vehicle and used for the construction of subglacial topography models. Ice caps of the Argentine Islands cover ~50% of the land surface of the islands on average. The maximum thickness of only two islands (Galindez and Skua) exceeds 30 m, while the average thickness of all islands is only ~5 m. The maximum ice thickness reaches 35.3 m on Galindez Island. The ice thickness and glacier distribution are mainly governed by prevailing wind direction from the north. This has created the prominent narrow ice ridges on Uruguay and Irizar islands, which are not supported by topographic obstacles, as well as the elongated shape of other ice caps. The subglacial topography of the ice caps is undulated and mainly dependent on the geological structure and composition of magmatic rocks.


2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 401-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Mayer ◽  
A. Lambrecht ◽  
W. Hagg ◽  
Y. Narozhny

Abstract. Glaciers are important water storages on a seasonal and long-term time scale. Where high mountains are surrounded by arid lowlands, glacier runoff is an important source of water during the growing season. This situation can be found in the Altay mountains in Southern Siberia, where the recent glacierization of >700 km2 is subject to continuous mass loss, even though the shrinking is comparably slow. The glacier retreat is accompanied by an extension of supra-glacial moraine, which itself strongly influences ablation rates. To quantify these effects, the spatial evolution of debris cover since 1952 was analysed for three glaciers in the North Chuya Ridge using satellite and airborne imagery. In summer 2007, an ablation experiment was carried out on debris covered parts of Maliy Aktru glacier. Thermistors in different depths within the moraine provided data to calculate thermal resistance of the debris. A set of ablation stakes was installed at locations with differing debris thickness and observed regularly throughout the entire melt season. Air temperature from an AWS was used to calculate degree day factors in dependence of the debris thickness. To take into account the shading effect of surrounding walls and peaks, the potential solar radiation and its evolution throughout the summer was determined from a digital elevation model. This allows us to extrapolate our measurements from Maliy Aktru to the other two glaciers of the Aktru basin and to estimate basin melt rates. In addition accumulated ice melt was derived for 12 glaciers in the North Chuya Range. Changes in summer runoff from the 1960s are compared to the results from our melt model and the evolution of debris cover is analysed in respect to the melt activity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sasha. Z. Leidman ◽  
Åsa K. Rennermalm ◽  
Richard G. Lathrop ◽  
Matthew. G. Cooper

The presence of shadows in remotely sensed images can reduce the accuracy of land surface classifications. Commonly used methods for removing shadows often use multi-spectral image analysis techniques that perform poorly for dark objects, complex geometric models, or shaded relief methods that do not account for shadows cast on adjacent terrain. Here we present a new method of removing topographic shadows using readily available GIS software. The method corrects for cast shadows, reduces the amount of over-correction, and can be performed on imagery of any spectral resolution. We demonstrate this method using imagery collected with an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) over a supraglacial stream catchment in southwest Greenland. The structure-from-motion digital elevation model showed highly variable topography resulting in substantial shadowing and variable reflectance values for similar surface types. The distribution of bare ice, sediment, and water within the catchment was determined using a supervised classification scheme applied to the corrected and original UAV images. The correction resulted in an insignificant change in overall classification accuracy, however, visual inspection showed that the corrected classification more closely followed the expected distribution of classes indicating that shadow correction can aid in identification of glaciological features hidden within shadowed regions. Shadow correction also caused a substantial decrease in the areal coverage of dark sediment. Sediment cover was highly dependent on the degree of shadow correction (k coefficient), yet, for a correction coefficient optimized to maximize shadow brightness without over-exposing illuminated surfaces, terrain correction resulted in a 49% decrease in the area covered by sediment and a 29% increase in the area covered by water. Shadow correction therefore reduces the overestimation of the dark surface coverage due to shadowing and is a useful tool for investigating supraglacial processes and land cover change over a wide variety of complex terrain.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 63-73
Author(s):  
Jaehee Choi ◽  
Namgyun Kim ◽  
Bongjin Choe ◽  
Byonghee Jun

In this study, the risk of rockfall on incision slopes adjacent to roads was evaluated using the RocFall program. The study area was a slope adjacent to the road leading to a university campus in Samcheok-si, Gangwon-do, with an area of 774 m<sup>2</sup> and an average slope of approximately 43°. A rock shed was installed at the lower zone of the slope. A 3D model of the terrain was generated based on point cloud data gathered using a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle). Fast and accurate orthoimages were captured by UAV and high-resolution digital surface models (DSMs) were produced; these data were used to assess the risk of rockfall. Compared to terrain extraction using a digital elevation model (DEM) generated from an existing digital map, terrain extraction using a UAV was more effective in deriving results close to the actual situation in the field, especially for the analysis of rockfall jump height and kinetic energy. The necessity of constructing 3D topographic data using UAVs to predict rockfall disasters in mountainous regions was confirmed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 963
Author(s):  
E. Kokinou ◽  
C. Belonaki ◽  
D. Sakadakis ◽  
K. Sakadaki

Main scope of the present study is to combine topographic and geological data, magnetic susceptibility and thermomagnetic analysis in order to investigate the magnetic properties of the near surface soils in possible polluted urban areas. For this purpose, a power plant with a dense traffic net around it, located in the NW section of Heraklion city in Crete was selected to be the study area. Surface soil samples have been collected from the area under investigation and they were analyzed in order to estimate the spatial distribution of the magnetic susceptibility. Loci of high values of the magnetic susceptibility within the study area gave rise to further proceed to thermomagnetic analysis of the selected samples. GIS techniques were used for mapping the magnetic measurements on the various topographic and geological features of the area. The digital elevation model was created by the digitization of the topographic map contours (1:5000 scale maps). The combination of the above techniques indicate high values of the magnetic susceptibility especially in the northeastern part of the investigated area, possibly related to pollution due to the presence of heavy metals.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eve daly ◽  
David O Leary

&lt;p&gt;Peatlands are becoming recognized as important carbon sequestration centres. Through restoration projects of peatlands in which the water table is raised, they may become carbon neutral or possibly carbon negative. Restoration projects require a knowledge of intra-peat variation across potentially large spatial areas. This is often difficult with traditional in-situ point measurements. The integration of multidimensional geophysical datasets and digital elevation models, combined with modern data analytical techniques, may provide a rapid means of accessing intra-peat variation. In this study, an airborne radiometric survey, being flown nationally over the Republic of Ireland, combined with a digital elevation model, is used to delineate areas within an industrial peatland where peat thickness is less than 1m. Radiometric data are particularly suited to peat studies as they are sensitive to water content and peat thickness and require relatively little expert knowledge to utilise. Peat, as a mostly organic material, acts as a low signal environment where variations in the signal are linked to intra-peat variation of thickness, density and/or water content. This study uses an unsupervised machine learning, self-organizing map clustering methodology to group the study site into three zones interpreted as 1) the edge of the bog where peat layer is thinning or there is influence on the radiometric signal from non-peat soils outside of the bog, 2) the normal peat conditions where thickness and saturation appear as a relative constant in the radiometric response, and 3) areas where the peat is either thinner or drier. A ground geophysical survey was conducted to verify this interpretation. The delineation of such spatial variations in the radiometric response could aid any restoration project in the initial stages or act as a baseline study to monitor changes to the peatland during and after a restoration project is complete. Future work will see this methodology extended to other peatland types such as blanket bogs and natural raised bogs, as well as the integration of concurrent airborne electromagnetic data to link the near-surface radiometric response to the deeper vadose zone and define a more comprehensive classification scheme for these peatland sites.&lt;/p&gt;


2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 195-202
Author(s):  
Marvin R. Pyles ◽  
Mari Kramer

Abstract An aerial photo-based inventory of landslides on recently harvested and reforested land after a significant landslide-producing storm in February 1996, was compared with a digital elevation model-based assessment of slope stability (shallow landsliding stability model [SHALSTAB]) for Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians (CTSI) and surrounding forestland. The SHALSTAB predictions of landslide locations did not correlate well with the locations of observed landslides. Eighty-nine percent of the landslides on the more stable landform in the southern portion of the CTSI ownership occurred on land that SHALSTAB indicated to be at a low risk of landsliding. Seventy-two percent of the landslides on the less stable landform to the north occurred on land that SHALSTAB indicated to be at a low risk of landsliding. Conversely, only 11 and 28%, respectively, of the observed landslides occurred on lands predicted to be “chronically unstable” or at “high risk” by SHALSTAB. This level of correct prediction of landsliding was judged to be unacceptable for SHALSTAB to be used for slope stability assessment as a part of forest management planning. West. J. Appl. For. 21(4):195–202.


2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-80
Author(s):  
Eva Stopková

The paper summarizes the geodetic contribution for the Slovak team within the joint Polish-Slovak archaeological mission at Tell el-Retaba in Egypt. Surveying work at archaeological excavations is usually influenced by somewhat specific subject of study and extreme conditions, especially at the missions in the developing countries. The case study describes spatial data development according to the archaeological conventions in order to document spatial relationships between the objects in excavated trenches. The long-term sustainability of surveying work at the site has been ensured by detailed metadata recording. Except the trench mapping, Digital Elevation Model has been calculated for the study area and for the north-eastern part of the site, with promising preliminary results for further detection and modelling of archaeological structures. In general, topographic mapping together with modern technologies like Photogrammetry, Satellite Imagery, and Remote Sensing provide valuable data sources for spatial and statistical modelling of the sites; and the results offer a different perspective for the archaeological research.


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