the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Brief communication: Landslides on the Argentinian Santa Cruz river mega dam works revealed by PSI DInSAR
Guillermo Tamburini-Beliveau
Sebastián Balbarani
Oriol Monserrat
Abstract. In the dam industry, safety and environmental aspects are crucial beyond production goals. By monitoring landslides associated with the construction of a hydro-power dam in the Santa Cruz River in the Argentine Patagonia, this paper contributes to the assessment of the project safety. Ground deformation is monitored using SAR satellite data and the Persistent Scatterer Interferometry technique, and contrasted with optical imagery, geological and technical reports and fieldwork. The results include maps of accumulated deformation and deformation time series for the locations of the anchorages of the dam, providing a new and independent dataset to assess the dam work integrity.
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Guillermo Tamburini-Beliveau et al.
Status: final response (author comments only)
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RC1: 'Comment on nhess-2022-250', Anonymous Referee #1, 13 Dec 2022
I read the manuscript with interest. It presents the results of a PSI monitoring activity on a very big dam in Argentina to assess “the deformation and deformation time series for the locations of the anchorages of the dam.”
The content is interested for NHESS readers. Overall, the paper is well structured, with a valid scientific and technical approach. Results are presented in a clear and well-organized manner. I have only a few comments and suggestions for improvements.
Specific comments:
- Title: I’ll chance the word “revealed” with “confirmed” or something like that, because, as you state in the document landslide are already known and your work confirm their presence and I’ll add the word “activity” after Landslide.
- I understand that a brief communication is a very short paper, but I would like to read more about the contributes on assessing the project safety, also considering that in the conclusion you specify that the construction works are still in progress. So, what is your contribution to the dam risk assessment, besides say that perhaps the landslide is still active? In the abstract, in fact, you assess that the results include deformations’ maps and time series to locate the anchorages of the dam.
- It could be useful to highlight the work phases on panels A-D of figure 2 so that a comparison between the trend and the work’s process can be done.
Technical corrections:
- Ln41: MW instead of megawatt
- Ln74: is the fault within the image boundaries? If yes, please add it in the figure. If no, please specify it in the text
- Figure 1: numbers on purple and dark green are not so visible. Moreover, as in Figure 2 I’ll suggest to use “Coordinates are UTM zone19S” instead of “50.21º South, 70.78º West”
- Ln104 (and in the whole text): use 68,477 to be consistent with 5,000 at ln42
- Table 1: caption should be placed above the table and not below
- References: according to the guideline references allowed for a brief communication are just 20
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2022-250-RC1 -
AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Guillermo Tamburini-Beliveau, 19 Dec 2022
Dear revisor,
Thank you very much for your detailed comments.
Once we get the Editor's response, we will keep them into account for the next step.
Best regards,
The authors.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2022-250-AC1
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RC2: 'Comment on nhess-2022-250', Anonymous Referee #2, 15 Mar 2023
This brief communication shows the importance of InSAR data for unraveling ongoing deformation during large construction works. The topic is of certain interest, the geographical location is, to my knowledge, uncommon for this kind of applications. It can be defined as a novel work.
Major points:
- section 5 wll benefit from a more rigorous description of the processing approach. I understand that there is not much space to do this in a brief communication, but some general sentences (e.g.lines 87 to 92) shall be substituted with information about the processing solution adopted here.
- The discussion section can be enriched with some considerations of the authors about the relevance of the interferometric data during and after the ground operations.
Minor points:
- some acronyms are not defined in the text. Please check
- I suggest that you use the velocity of PSs along with the accumulated displacement. Velosity is a more readable parameter for non-experts
- ABstract, first line. The term "dam industry" looks odd to me
- line 19. Is it needed to write the title of the website page?
- line 63, crop out instead of cover the surface
- Fig.1. I propose to change the color of the sketch of the dam project from black to white
- Line 104 density instead of ratio
- Line 109 'pronounced deformation trend' is a vague word choice
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2022-250-RC2 -
AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Guillermo Tamburini-Beliveau, 29 Mar 2023
Dear referees (and Editor),
Thank you for your comments on our article.
We are pleased to see that your general evaluation is positive, where you highlighted aspects of the work such as its novelty, the interest it arouses, its correct structure, methodology and technical approach, or the singularity of the geographical space analyzed.
The requests are for few minor corrections and barely make two general appreciations. In response to these issues, we present next the list of corrections requested and the actions we will take accordingly (taking into account that the text is a brief communication).
Once again, thank you very much.
First referee:
Considerations about the title (words “revealed” and “activity”): We will apply it.
Contributions related to project security: Some elements will be introduced in this regard in the conclusions (line 186 onwards), highlighting the importance of having systematic monitoring over wide areas on very big projects.
Change color in numbers in Figure 1: We will change it.
Change caption regarding CRS in caption in Figure 1: We will change it.
Highlight the work phases on panels of Figure 2: We will do it.
MW instead of megawatt: We will change it.
Ln74: is the fault within the image boundaries?: The fault is found within the boundaries, but the precise location is not available. A comment will be added in that sense in the text.
Ln104 (and in the whole text): We will apply consistency using comma as thousands separator.
Table 1, caption above instead below: We used Latex journal template. The editing services will solve that.
References, 20 maximum: The less relevant references will be removed. We will wait for the Editor's criteria on this subject before removing other references entries.
Second referee:Lines 87 to 92. Rigorous description of the processing approach: Steps on the processing chain will be briefly enumerated in this paragraph. The bibliography is very accurate regarding this point, so we refer to it if the reader is searching for further details (attending to the text length limitations of a brief communication).
Some acronyms are not defined in the text: We will check and correct that.
Use of velocity of PSs along with the accumulated displacement: The velocity is already mentioned along the text. It will be added in one occasion where it is missing (line 107).
Use of the term "dam industry": We will change it for “hydropower industry” using the following reference: https://guides.loc.gov/renewable-energy/hydropower
Line 19. Website title will be removed.
Line 63, crop out instead of cover the surface: As lava flows, the mentioned rocks cover the surface instead of cropping out on it.
Figure 1 dam scheme will be changed from black to white.
Line 104 density will be used instead of ratio.
Line 109 'pronounced deformation trend' will be changed by a more clear synonym.
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2022-250-AC2
Guillermo Tamburini-Beliveau et al.
Guillermo Tamburini-Beliveau et al.
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