Two months of pit movement compared

International engineering firm AMEC is working with ESA's Earth Observation Market Development (EOMD) Programme on the application of satellite data to better monitor ground subsidence linked to mining activity. The satellite-derived images here compare slant range deformation occurring around the pit of Rio Tinto's Palabora mine in South Africa across two months. The first image covers 22 July to 15 August 2004, the second image covers 15 August to 8 September. Note a decrease in deformation in the second image. For legend see the image above. The results are based on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Interferometry (InSAR) results, overlaid on a Quickbird high-resolution optical image. The area enclosed in blue exhibits fast motion, the area enclosed in green exhibits slow motion. Slant deformation provided by Vexcel; the Quickbird image provided by Infoterra Ltd, copyright Digital Globe Inc 2004, data courtesy of Eurimage.