Source: https://www.researchseer.com/volumes-issues/volume2-issue-6/trending-research
Have you ever heard the term ‘Frozen Soil’? It refers to the ground with micro or macro cracks, which result from the freezing of the water particles in the soil, as the climatic temperature drops below zero degrees during changing climatic conditions. However, the temperature is not always going to be low. There are seasons, wherein the frozen soil undergoes thawing, decreasing the soil strength to cause a multitude of hazards such as landslides, collapses, and debris flows. These threats pose significant risks to local residents and the operation of critical infrastructures such as roads, railways, oil and gas pipelines, and hydropower projects!!! Hence a high-precision approach, which can aid in the comprehensive in-situ monitoring of moisture migration and ice-water phase transitions in the frozen soil during the freeze-thaw cycles, becomes essential to prevent any devastating geological disasters in the colder regions. Professor Hong-Hu Zhu, Dean of the Institute of Earth Exploration and Sensing at Nanjing University, and his team have proposed a method in the Journal of Hydrology, 622(A) that combines active and passive distributed temperature sensing techniques, which can aid in this regard. Their specially designed temperature-sensing fiber optic cable has allowed high-precision, minimally- invasive, and fully- automated monitoring of the temporal and spatial distribution of moisture in the seasonally- frozen soil using key physical quantities of frozen soil such as temperature, ice content, and unfrozen water content along the cable length. In collaboration with the Sun Yat-sen University, North China Institute of Science and Technology, and the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Zhu’s research group has established field observation stations in multiple locations. Long-term monitoring of parameters, such as soil temperature, water content, ice content, atmospheric temperature, humidity, rainfall, and solar radiation, has allowed them to investigate the thermo-hydromechanical coupling mechanisms of the seasonally-frozen soil and the evolution patterns of relevant geohazards. Their work ensures greater technical support for future engineering projects and sustainable development in cold areas. The researchers with interest in automated frozen soil monitoring should make sure that their approaches alert and offer prior safety, even in challenging geological conditions.
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