Estimation of Rock Glacier Dynamics by Environmental Modelling and Automatic Photogrammetric Technics

The development of this article follows the search for a technique that automates the modelling and dynamics of any natural (dunes, slipping of mountainsides, glaciers...) or artificial (collapsing of buildings...) structure. In this study, the dynamics of the Argualas rock glacier (Pyrenees-Spain) has been investigated since 1991. A peculiarity of rocks glaciers is their sensitivity to environmental changes. For this reason, the influence of possible climatic terrestrial changes in the environment can be known by means of the analysis of their dynamics. In general, the measurements of the dynamics of rocks glaciers have been studied with geodesic and aerial photogrammetric techniques. However, a close range photogrammetric technique is proposed here. Through predictive statistics it is possible to correlate glacier dynamics with climatic information, and in this way, the mathematical function for each of the fixed points observed in rock glacier can be resolved. When a future photogrammetric observation is made, the process of “exterior orientation” in field can be avoided, assuming that the climatic conditions (rainfalls, temperatures and so on) are known, it will be possible to predict the position of the ”control points”. The photographs are taken with a semimetric camera from a helicopter. The photogrammetric relation of the distance between the photographic base and the object isn’t maintained as in aerial photogrammetry. Moreover, the photographic shots are convergent and tilted, and it makes matching strategies cumbersome. This paper makes some contributions in order to overcome the modelling and dynamic predictions of rock glacier.