Imaging shallow structures in Dublin city using seismic interferometry of seismic waves generated by train traffic

Author(s):  
Meysam Rezaeifar ◽  
Giuseppe Maggio ◽  
Yihe Xu ◽  
Chris Bean ◽  
François Lavoué ◽  
...  

<p><span><span>Although train-induced vibrations are mainly regarded as a source of unwanted noise for classical seismological applications, these vibrations act as powerful sources for seismic imaging using seismic interferometry. Most of the seismic interferometry studies to date have concentrated on using the ambient seismic field generated by natural processes but the appropriate use of train-induced vibrations could result in higher resolution images. </span></span></p><p><span><span>In this study, we present results of seismic interferometry applied on 3 days of railroad traffic data recorded by an array of 3-component seismographs along a railway in Dublin, Ireland. Train-generated waves show a significantly higher frequency range than those recovered from typical ambient noise interferometry. Analysing the recorded signal, we have been able to distinguish between different train types (e.g. cargo vs. passenger trains) and train lengths (3-4, 5-6, 7-9, and/or 10-11 wagons).</span></span></p><p><span><span>For seismic interferometry, a Common Mid-Point – Cross-Correlation (CMP-CC) stack approach has been used to directly image the structures beneath the array. This approach produces a reflection image with interfaces consistent with nearby borehole data at ~450-500 m and ~1350-1400 m depth. </span></span></p><p><span><span>In addition to this reflection image, our results document a strong relation between the ambient source location (trains in this case) and the retrieved seismic reflection image. Since we have train location GPS data, we extracted 2-s time windows for when the train is 1500 m, 1000 m, and 500 m away from the first sensor and we applied the CMP-CC procedure to produce reflection images. As expected, the reflection images are sensitive to the location of the ambient noise source. </span></span></p><p><span><span>Numerical forward modelling of seismic wavefields for various source-receiver configurations also documents a strong correlation between the source location and the retrieved reflection image.</span></span></p><p><span><em><span>This research emanates from PACIFIC - Passive seismic techniques for environmentally friendly and cost-effective mineral exploration - which has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No~776622. We also acknowledge support from the European Research Council under grant No.~817803, FAULTSCAN. </span></em></span></p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Solveig Pospiech ◽  
Anne Taivalkoski ◽  
Yann Lahaye ◽  
Pertti Sarala ◽  
Janne Kinnunen ◽  
...  

<p>Modern mineral exploration is required to be conducted in a sustainable, environmentally friendly and socially acceptable way. Especially for the geochemical exploration on ecologically sensitive areas this poses a challenge because any heavy machinery or invasive methods might cause long-lasting damage to nature. One way of reducing the impact of mineral exploration on the environment during the early stages of exploration is to use surface sampling media, such as upper soil horizons, water, plants and, on high latitudes, also snow. Of these options, snow has several advantages: Sampling and analysing snow is fast and low in costs, it has no impact on the environment, and in wintertime it is ubiquitous and available independent of the ecosystem.<br>In the “New Exploration Technologies (NEXT)” project*, snow samples were collected in March-April 2019 to evaluate the usage of snow as a sampling material for mineral exploration. The test site was the Rajapalot Au-Co prospect in northern Finland, located 60 km west from Rovaniemi and operated by Mawson Oy. A stratified random sampling strategy was applied to place the sampling stations on the test site. The sampling comprised 94 snow samples and 12 field replicates. The samples were analysed at the GTK Research laboratory using a Nu AttoM single collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SC-ICPMS) which returned analytical results for 52 elements at the ppt level. After applying quality control to the data, the elements Ba, Ca, Cd, Cr, Cs, Ga, Li, Mg, Rb, Sr, Tl and V showed good quality and were used in the final data analysis.<br>Geochemical data of drill cores were used to train a model to predict bedrock geochemistry based on the 12 available element concentrations of snow analysis. Prior to statistical methods, all geochemical data was transformed to log-ratio scores in order to ensure that results are independent of the selection of elements and to avoid spurious correlations (compositional data approach). Results show that snow data provide reasonable predictions of bedrock geochemistry for elements such as Ca, Cr, Li and Mg, but also for elements not used in snow data, such as Mn and Na. This suggests that snow can serve as a lithogeochemical mapping tool for potential geological domains. For the ore related elements Au, Ag, Co, and U the model provided predictions with higher uncertainty. Yet, the pattern of the predicted values of ore related elements show that snow can also be used to delineate prospective areas for continuing exploration with more sensitive methods.<br>*) This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 776804.</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alireza Malehmir ◽  
Lars Dynesius ◽  
Paul Marsden ◽  
Stefan Buske ◽  
Nelson Pacheco ◽  
...  

<p>Mineral exploration industry needs to push its technological advancement towards finding the so-called critical raw materials. These materials are fundamental for our green technologies and help accelerate the energy transition towards decarbonisation. While in-mine and near-mine exploration will be more convenient in the short term, providing fresh raw materials and mines in greenfield or brownfield areas must not be forgotten in the longer term. As the chase for mineral deposits becomes deeper, seismic methods play a greater role for exploring at depth. Through a series of experiments conducted within the EU-funded Smart Exploration project, we have innovated a number of hardware and methodological solutions for in-mine as well as brownfield seismic exploration. Along with these, legacy data have also been recovered, reprocessed and their values for mineral exploration illustrated. The legacy data examples are from the Ludvika Mines (Nordic Iron Ore AB) of central Sweden and Neves-Corvo (Somincor-Lundin Mining) of southern Portugal.</p><p>In particular, through the development of a GPS-time system, we have managed to acquire a globally unique semi3D in-mine and surface seismic dataset at the world-class Neves-Corvo mine. This helped to utilize four exploration tunnels at 600 m depth and two receiver lines on the surface allowing over 1000 recorders to be synchronized for down-tunnel exploration. A broadband electromagnetic-based seismic source (7 kN or 1.5t), developed also in the project, was used as the seismic source.</p><p>In central Sweden, at an iron-oxide mining site of Nordic Iron Ore company, 2D seismic profiles helped to suggest potential resources in the down-dip continuation of the known deposits but also in their footwall. A follow-up and more recent survey employed over 1250 seismic recorders and a 32t vibrator to acquire a sparse 2 by 2 km seismic dataset. The data show great quality and allow to image lateral extent of the deposits and crosscutting reflections that may be important factors for mine planning and understanding structural evolution of the deposits. The broadband seismic source was also tested at the site along the existing 2D profiles with raw data already showing a number of reflections interpreted to be from the mineralization. This survey further illustrates that the seismic source functions well and has a great potential for hard rock seismic applications. </p><p><strong>Acknowledgements:</strong> <span>This work was supported by the Smart Exploration<sup>TM</sup> project. </span>Smart Exploration has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 775971.</p>


2022 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-61
Author(s):  
Moyagabo K. Rapetsoa ◽  
Musa S. D. Manzi ◽  
Mpofana Sihoyiya ◽  
Michael Westgate ◽  
Phumlani Kubeka ◽  
...  

We demonstrate the application of seismic methods using in-mine infrastructure such as exploration tunnels to image platinum deposits and geologic structures using different acquisition configurations. In 2020, seismic experiments were conducted underground at the Maseve platinum mine in the Bushveld Complex of South Africa. These seismic experiments were part of the Advanced Orebody Knowledge project titled “Developing technologies that will be used to obtain information ahead of the mine face.” In these experiments, we recorded active and passive seismic data using surface nodal arrays and an in-mine seismic land streamer. We focus on analyzing only the in-mine active seismic portion of the survey. The tunnel seismic survey consisted of seven 2D profiles in exploration tunnels, located approximately 550 m below ground surface and a few meters above known platinum deposits. A careful data-processing approach was adopted to enhance high-quality reflections and suppress infrastructure-generated noise. Despite challenges presented by the in-mine noisy environment, we successfully imaged the platinum deposits with the aid of borehole data and geologic models. The results open opportunities to adapt surface-based geophysical instruments to address challenging in-mine environments for mineral exploration.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana M. Mancho ◽  
Guillermo García-Sánchez ◽  
Antonio G. Ramos ◽  
Josep Coca ◽  
Begoña Pérez-Gómez ◽  
...  

<p>This presentation discusses a downstream application from Copernicus Services, developed in the framework of the IMPRESSIVE project, for the monitoring of  the oil spill produced after the crash of the ferry “Volcan de Tamasite” in waters of the Canary Islands on the 21<sup>st</sup> of April 2017. The presentation summarizes the findings of [1] that describe a complete monitoring of the diesel fuel spill, well-documented by port authorities. Complementary information supplied by different sources enhances the description of the event. We discuss the performance of very high resolution hydrodynamic models in the area of the Port of Gran Canaria and their ability for describing the evolution of this event. Dynamical systems ideas support the comparison of different models performance. Very high resolution remote sensing products and in situ observation validate the description.</p><p>Authors acknowledge support from IMPRESSIVE a project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 821922. SW acknowledges the support of ONR Grant No. N00014-01-1-0769</p><p><strong>References</strong></p><p>[1] G.García-Sánchez, A. M. Mancho, A. G. Ramos, J. Coca, B. Pérez-Gómez, E. Álvarez-Fanjul, M. G. Sotillo, M. García-León, V. J. García-Garrido, S. Wiggins. Very High Resolution Tools for the Monitoring and Assessment of Environmental Hazards in Coastal Areas.  Front. Mar. Sci. (2021) doi: 10.3389/fmars.2020.605804.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanie Holzwarth ◽  
Martin Bachmann ◽  
Bringfried Pflug ◽  
Aimé Meygret ◽  
Caroline Bès ◽  
...  

<p>The objective of the H2020 project “Copernicus Cal/Val Solution (CCVS)” is to define a holistic Cal/Val strategy for all ongoing and upcoming Copernicus Sentinel missions. This includes an improved calibration of currently operational or planned Copernicus Sentinel sensors and the validation of Copernicus core products generated by the payload ground segments. CCVS will identify gaps and propose long-term solutions to address currently existing constraints in the Cal/Val domain and exploit existing synergies between the missions. An overview of existing calibration and validation sources and means is needed before starting the gap analysis. In this context, this survey is concerned with measurement capabilities for aerial campaigns.</p><p>Since decades airborne observations are an essential contribution to support Earth-System model development and space-based observing programs, both in the domains of Earth Observation (radar and optical) as well as for atmospheric research. The collection of airborne reference data can be directly related to satellite observations, since they are collected in ideal validation conditions using well calibrated reference sensors. Many of these sensors are also used to validate and characterize postlaunch instrument performance. The variety of available aircraft equipped with different instrumentations ranges from motorized gliders to jets acquiring data from different heights to the upper troposphere. In addition, balloons are also used as platforms, either small weather balloons with light payload (around 3 kg), or open stratospheric balloons with big payload (more than a ton). For some time now, UAVs/drones are also used in order to acquire data for Cal/Val purposes. They offer a higher flexibility compared to airplanes, plus covering a bigger area compared to in-situ measurements on ground. On the other hand, they also have limitations when it comes to the weight of instrumentation and maximum altitude level above ground. This reflects the wide range of possible aerial measurements supporting the Cal/Val activities.</p><p>The survey will identify the different airborne campaigns. The report will include the description of campaigns, their spatial distribution and extent, ownership and funding, data policy and availability and measurement frequency. Also, a list of common instrumentation, metrological traceability, availability of uncertainty evaluation and quality management will be discussed. The report additionally deals with future possibilities e.g., planned developments and emerging technologies in instrumentation for airborne and balloon based campaigns.</p><p>This presentation gives an overview of the preliminary survey results and puts them in context with the Cal/Val requirements of the different Copernicus Sentinel missions.</p><p>This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No 101004242.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 853-871
Author(s):  
Natacha Jesus Silva ◽  
Diamantino Ribeiro

The partnership agreement between the European Union and the Member States for the implementation of the European Structural and Investment Funds for the period 2014 to 2020 is in its final phase. This study analyzes the multiplier impact on regional investment of the European funds made available to the northern region of Portugal - NUTS III, until September 2018 and intends to answer the following questions: What is the amount invested in the regional economy for each euro of support allocated by the EU through the H2020 program, and what is the percentage distribution of community support versus investment per area of intervention?


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackie Calderwood ◽  
Rachael Till ◽  
Vytautas Vasiliauskas

This paper presents an emergent co-creative methodology for the conception, making and sharing of narrative artwork for a gamified learning platform. Drawing on cinema, the graphic novel, and comic book art, two unusual characters were developed by Student Activators working with researchers at the Disruptive Media Learning Lab, Coventry University. The creative process began by using Clean Language and Clean Space to bring the artists’ character sketches to life, and developed into a series of basic, linear and interactive narratives with original working practices. Extending this collaboration, the paper is co-authored with the two students involved. The authors reflect from their different perspectives on the Collaborative process, creation of narrative artwork and building of a series of metagames for the BEACONING platform ‘Breaking Educational Barriers with Contextualised Pervasive and Gameful Learning’, co-funded by Horizon 2020 programme of the European Union.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Coutant ◽  
Ludovic Moreau ◽  
Pierre Boué ◽  
Eric Larose ◽  
Arnaud Cimolino

<p>Accurate monitoring of floating ice thickness is an important safety issue for northern countries where lakes, fjords, and coasts are covered with ice in winter, and used by people to travel. For example in Finland, 15-20 fatal accidents occur every year due to ice-related drowning. We have explored the potential of fiber optics to measure the propagation of seismic waves guided in the ice layer, in order to infer its thickness via the inversion of the dispersion curves. An optical fiber was deployed on a frozen lake at Lacs Roberts (2400m) above Grenoble and we measured with a DAS the signal generated by active sources (hammer) and ambient noise. We demonstrate that we can retrieve the ice thickness. This monitoring method could be of interest since the deployment of a fiber on ice is quite simple (e.g. using a drone) compared to other techniques for ice thickness estimation such as seismic survey or manual drilling.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maija Peltola ◽  
Manon Rocco ◽  
Neill Barr ◽  
Erin Dunne ◽  
James Harnwell ◽  
...  

<p>Even though oceans cover over 70% of the Earth’s surface, the ways in which oceans interact with climate are not fully known. Marine micro-organisms such as phytoplankton can play an important role in regulating climate by releasing different chemical species into air. In air these chemical species can react and form new aerosol particles. If grown to large enough sizes, aerosols can influence climate by acting as cloud condensation nuclei which influence the formation and properties of clouds. Even though a connection of marine biology and climate through aerosol formation was first proposed already over 30 years ago, the processes related to this connection are still uncertain.</p><p>To unravel how seawater properties affect aerosol formation and to identify which chemical species are responsible for aerosol formation, we built two Air-Sea-Interaction Tanks (ASIT) that isolate 1000 l of seawater and 1000 l of air directly above the water. The used seawater was collected from different locations during a ship campaign on board the R/V Tangaroa in the South West Pacific Ocean, close to Chatham Rise, east of New Zealand. Seawater from one location was kept in the tanks for 2-3 days and then changed. By using seawater collected from different locations, we could obtain water with different biological populations. To monitor the seawater, we took daily samples to determine its chemical and biological properties.</p><p>The air in the tanks was continuously flushed with particle filtered air. This way the air had on average 40 min to interact with the seawater surface before being sampled. Our air sampling was continuous and consisted of aerosol and air chemistry measurements. The instrumentation included measurements of aerosol number concentration from 1 to 500 nm and  chemical species ranging from ozone and sulphur dioxide to volatile organic compounds and chemical composition of molecular clusters.</p><p>Joining the seawater and atmospheric data together can give us an idea of what chemical species are emitted from the water into the atmosphere and whether these species can form new aerosol particles. Our preliminary results show a small number of particles in the freshly nucleated size range of 1-3 nm in the ASIT headspaces, indicating that new aerosol particles can form in the ASIT headspaces. In this presentation, we will also explore which chemical species could be responsible for aerosol formation and which plankton groups could be related to the emissions of these species. Combining these results with ambient data and modelling work can shed light on how important new particle formation from marine sources is for climate.</p><p>Acknowledgements: Sea2Cloud project is funded by European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant agreement No. 771369).</p>


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