| Title | Seasonal surface displacement and highway embankment grade derived from InSAR and LiDAR, Highway 3 west of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories |
| Download | Downloads |
| |
| Licence | Please note the adoption of the Open Government Licence - Canada
supersedes any previous licences. |
| Author | Stevens, C W; Short, N ; Wolfe, S A |
| Source | Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 7087, 2012, 112 pages; 1 DVD, https://doi.org/10.4095/291383  Open Access |
| Year | 2012 |
| Publisher | Natural Resources Canada |
| Document | open file |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | DVD; on-line; digital |
| File format | readme
|
| File format | pdf; rtf; shp; xml |
| Province | Northwest Territories |
| NTS | 85J/07; 85J/10; 85J/11 |
| Area | Yellowknife; Great Slave Lake |
| Lat/Long WENS | -115.3333 -114.4167 62.7000 62.3833 |
| Subjects | surficial geology/geomorphology; engineering geology; geophysics; Nature and Environment; satellite imagery; mapping techniques; displacement; construction capability; construction suitabilities;
permafrost; freezing ground; ground ice; terrain sensitivity; terrain types; arctic geology; InSAR; LiDAR |
| Illustrations | location maps; photographs; cross-sections; tables; satellite images; plots |
| Program | Climate Change Geoscience |
| Released | 2012 05 16 |
| Abstract | Monitoring highway conditions is critical to effectively maintain northern infrastructure within discontinuous permafrost environments. This Open File presents seasonal surface displacement and
embankment grade calculated for a 48 km section of Highway 3 (km marker 282 to 330), located to the west of Yellowknife. Satellite interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) was used to calculate relative surface displacement from May to
September of 2010 along the highway corridor. Airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data acquired on August 22 and 24, 2010 were also used to measure road elevations, calculate embankment grade and map raised ice-rich clay terrain. The highway
embankment was determined to be seasonally stable over 67% (31.2 linear km) of the 48 linear kilometres analyzed, which corresponds to sections where bedrock is exposed or covered by a thin veneer of sediment. Low downward displacement (-1 to -3 cm)
was calculated over 20% (9.3 linear km) and moderate downward displacement (-3 to -6 cm) over 2% (1.0 linear km) of the highway. Downward displacement is attributed to subsidence that occurs across forested clay and peatland terrain. Over an
additional 11% (4.9 linear km) of the highway, displacement was not measured due to incoherence between repeat satellite observations. Incoherence over the highway is primarily attributed to the smooth surface of the roadway that produces very low
radar return (i.e. low signal strength). At one location where the highway crosses the former location of an ice-rich clay ridge, the embankment has subsided by 95 cm over a 4-5 year period following construction. Embankment side slopes were
determined to be steeper than recommended grade along some sections where highway instability exists. LiDAR intensity is also shown to be successful for mapping wet terrain that may thermally impact permafrost. The derived data products accompanying
this Open File are presented in the form of graphical representations and digital geotiff and shapefiles compatible with ArcGIS. The datasets demonstrate the ability to remotely monitor several aspects of highway infrastructure located within the
discontinuous permafrost zone and to identify sections of the highway that may require future remediation and adaption measures. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 291383 |
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