InSAR Monitoring for Tailings Storage Facilities
Preventing Disasters Like Jagersfontein
Key Advantages of InSAR Monitoring for TSFs
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Proactive Risk Management: InSAR allows asset owners to identify potential issues before they escalate and make informed decisions.
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Cost-Effective Monitoring: Unlike in-situ monitoring, InSAR is less resource-intensive and covers vast areas from space.
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Improved Prediction Accuracy: InSAR-based estimations of failure timelines help asset management act within critical periods.
Tailings Storage Facilities (TSFs) are engineered structures that store large volumes of potentially hazardous materials, often including toxic substances. When a TSF fails, the environmental and financial consequences can be catastrophic.
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A major event happened at the Jagersfontein TSF in South Africa in September 2022. This incident showed how important it is to have strong monitoring methods to avoid similar disasters.
TSF collapses pose severe risks to surrounding environments and nearby communities. For stakeholders, these events can lead to significant financial losses, legal challenges, and reputational damage. Monitoring these expansive structures through traditional, on-site methods is costly and may miss critical warning signs of instability. Therefore, there's an urgent need for cost-effective, reliable solutions that can detect early warning signs of potential failure.
The Challenge of TSF Stability
Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) monitoring techniques offer an innovative, remote solution for detecting ground movement and potential structural risks in TSFs. At Geofem, our analysts utilised InSAR analysis to retrospectively monitor the Jagersfontein TSF, identifying subtle but critical changes in the structure's stability over time. InSAR processing allowed for the detection of specific areas with increased subsidence and uplift – indicators that preceded the collapse.
The Role of InSAR Monitoring
Key Findings
The Jagersfontein incident highlights the transformative potential of InSAR monitoring for TSF management. By adopting satellite remote sensing techniques, TSF owners can better safeguard their assets and reduce the risk of environmental and financial consequences.
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Interested in learning more about InSAR monitoring? Contact Geofem to explore how our InSAR solutions can enhance the stability of your critical infrastructure assets.
Conclusion
Using InSAR, Geofem’s analysts also applied the Inverse Velocity approach, which provided time-to-failure estimations. By calculating a failure window through short-term and long-term moving averages (SMA and LMA), we achieved an impressive accuracy rate of two week, enabling more precise predictions.
