69 research outputs found
Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) technique for landslide characterization and monitoring
: The measurement of landslide superficial displacement often represents the most effective method for defining its behavior, allowing one to observe the relationship with triggering factors and to assess the effectiveness of the mitigation measures. Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) represents a powerful tool to measure landslide displacement, as it offers a synoptic view that can be repeated at different time intervals and at various scales. In many cases, PSI data are integrated with in situ monitoring instrumentation, since the joint use of satellite and ground-based data facilitates the geological interpretation of a landslide and allows a better understanding of landslide geometry and kinematics. In this work, PSI interferometry and conventional ground-based monitoring techniques have been used to characterize and to monitor the Santo Stefano dâAveto landslide located in the Northern Apennines, Italy. This landslide can be defined as an earth rotational slide. PSI analysis has contributed to a more in-depth investigation of the phenomenon. In particular, PSI measurements have allowed better redefining of the boundaries of the landslide and the state of activity, while the time series analysis has permitted better understanding of the deformation pattern and its relation with the causes of the landslide itself. The integration of ground-based monitoring data and PSI data have provided sound results for landslide characterization. The punctual information deriving from inclinometers can help in defining the actual location of the sliding surface and the involved volumes, while the measuring of pore water pressure conditions or water table level can suggest a correlation between the deformation patterns and the triggering factors
Planetary Rings
Planetary rings are the only nearby astrophysical disks, and the only disks
that have been investigated by spacecraft. Although there are significant
differences between rings and other disks, chiefly the large planet/ring mass
ratio that greatly enhances the flatness of rings (aspect ratios as small as
1e-7), understanding of disks in general can be enhanced by understanding the
dynamical processes observed at close-range and in real-time in planetary
rings. We review the known ring systems of the four giant planets, as well as
the prospects for ring systems yet to be discovered. We then review planetary
rings by type. The main rings of Saturn comprise our system's only dense broad
disk and host many phenomena of general application to disks including spiral
waves, gap formation, self-gravity wakes, viscous overstability and normal
modes, impact clouds, and orbital evolution of embedded moons. Dense narrow
rings are the primary natural laboratory for understanding shepherding and
self-stability. Narrow dusty rings, likely generated by embedded source bodies,
are surprisingly found to sport azimuthally-confined arcs. Finally, every known
ring system includes a substantial component of diffuse dusty rings. Planetary
rings have shown themselves to be useful as detectors of planetary processes
around them, including the planetary magnetic field and interplanetary
impactors as well as the gravity of nearby perturbing moons. Experimental rings
science has made great progress in recent decades, especially numerical
simulations of self-gravity wakes and other processes but also laboratory
investigations of coefficient of restitution and spectroscopic ground truth.
The age of self-sustained ring systems is a matter of debate; formation
scenarios are most plausible in the context of the early solar system, while
signs of youthfulness indicate at least that rings have never been static
phenomena.Comment: 82 pages, 34 figures. Final revision of general review to be
published in "Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems", P. Kalas and L. French
(eds.), Springer (http://refworks.springer.com/sss
Deflation of Mount Etna monitored by spaceborne radar interferometry
International audienc
- âŠ