Dadu River Hydropower Company Monitors Geological Disasters with Remote Sensing Technology

On August 8, Dadu River Hydropower Development Co., Ltd. under China Energy used new technologies such as InSAR to conduct a survey on geological disasters in key areas of the Dadu River Basin. Moreover, it developed the InSAR-based potential geological disaster early identification model, setting up a “sky eye” over the river basin. The move to further explore the methods for identifying hidden geological risks in geologically active regions of southwestern China is conducive to ensuring safe operation of hydropower projects along the Dadu River and guaranteeing the supply of electrical power.

A technician monitors potential geological disasters in key areas of the river basin with an InSAR-based system.

In recent years, the Reservoirs and Dams Center of the company has strengthened InSAR technology research, with an eye on improving the capacities in geological disaster forecast and precaution. It collaborated with such institutions as the Chinese Academy of Sciences to establish a research team to conduct studies in the field of mountain disasters and environment monitoring. Leveraging remote sensing satellites, they analyze changes on the surface of Earth, with the focus on solving key questions such as how to locate potential geological disasters. The research project has been listed among the first group of pilot remote sensing satellite application projects for hydropower dam safety in China.

During this year’s flood season, the Center stepped up efforts in core technology research and team building, with an aim to advance the application of multiple types of remote sensing technologies including InSAR. By doing so, it has constantly improved its geological risks identification model and technical system, achieved automatic geological risk identification and information dynamic updating, and enhanced the accuracy, efficiency and coverage of risk detection. Moreover, based on data of the river basin captured by satellites in recent five years, it composed more than 600 satellite images and interpreted and analyzed them with the early geological risk identification model, so as to gain an insight into the law of geological deformations and form an entire map for early geological risk identification in the Dadu River Basin. In addition, relevant data are updated in a real-time manner for the purpose of tracing deformation history and identifying potential risks in advance. The system has achieved the preliminary goal of conducting remote monitoring and identification of potential geological disasters in geologically active regions of southwestern China.