A list of puns related to "The Pier"
Hello there,
Since the Morandi comes up fairly often I thought I'd introduce a process called Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSInSAR) which can monitor the movement and deformation of large man-made structures down to millimetre levels of precision using spaceborne radar.
Using Cosmo SkyMed synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and Sentinel-1 satellites, the structure was imaged hundreds of times before collapse over 9 years and the data can be combined to create a network of control points over the structure which can be monitored for movement over time.
In this animation you can see how the subsidence increased dramatically in the weeks leading to the collapse, leading to 43 deaths.
Full journal by P. Milillo et al
While applied retrospectively in this case, the same process was also used to monitor the deformation of the Mosul Dam, Iraq following its takeover by ISIS. The identification of impending collapse (which could have resulted in tens of thousands of casualties) due to disruption of the ongoing maintenance schedule for the dam led to the recapture of the dam being held as a priority.
I hope somebody else found this interesting, best wishes!
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