Remote monitoring of minewater rebound and environmental risk using satellite radar interferometry

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 857; p. 159272
• Main Authors: Gee, David, Sowter, Andrew, Athab, Ahmed, Grebby, Stephen, Wu, Zhenming, Boiko, Kateryna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 20.01.2023
• Subjects: Coal mining; Hydrogeology; InSAR; Minewater rebound; Modelling; Surface deformation; Surface deformation; InSAR; Minewater rebound; Modelling; Hydrogeology; Coal mining
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159272

The cessation of dewatering following coalfield abandonment results in the rise of minewater, which can create significant changes in the local and regional hydrogeological regime. Monitoring such change is challenging but essential to avoiding detrimental consequences such as groundwater contamination and surface flooding. Inverse modelling methods using satellite radar interferometry (InSAR) have proven capable for retrospectively mapping minewater level changes, however, there is a need for the capability to remotely monitor changes as they occur. In this study, ground deformation measurements obtained from InSAR are used to develop a method to remotely monitor the spatio-temporal rise of minewater, which could be implemented in near real-time. The approach is demonstrated over the Horlivka mining agglomeration, Ukraine, where there is no other feasible approach possible due to a lack of safe ground access. The results were blindly validated against in-situ measurements before being used to forecast the time until minewater will reach the natural water table and Earth's surface. The findings reveal that, as a result of military conflict in Donbas, an environmental catastrophe could occur where potentially radioactive minewater is forecast to reach the natural water table between May and August of 2024. [Display omitted] •Model remotely monitors minewater rebound in abandoned coalfields using InSAR.•Prediction of when minewater will reach the natural water table and Earth's surface.•Measurements were blindly validated against in-situ water level data.•Environmental catastrophe is foreseen in Donbas, Ukraine due to abrupt mine closure.•Alarming rise of potentially radioactive minewater identified in the Yunkom mine.