Survey by the North Sea, Denmark
It has been estimated that between 70%-98% of all fresh water on the planet is contained in aquifers buried beneath the earth’s surface. Proper management of these resources requires detailed knowledge of the groundwater system including location and amount of water available or capable of being stored, recharge rates or potential threats.
Denmark, a progressive country in several ways, is a world leader in mapping groundwater resources. The Danish academic and scientific community joined together with other institutions and professionals from the world of geophysics to develop an airborne geophysical system that was capable of mapping the subsurface in fine detail. Ground methods were slow and expensive and no airborne system at the time could provide the detail required to detect variation in geological layers extending from the earth’s surface to depths of 300-400 m where groundwater resources can hide. In order to accomplish this, the system had to be sensitive enough to detect the subtle changes that can often distort or conceal targets important to understanding the presence or lack of water. The technological breakthrough arising from that work is the SkyTEM method, an innovative and technologically advanced airborne geophysical system specifically designed to map buried aquifers.
Like a CT scan used to detect structures in the human body, the SkyTEM method produces high-resolution images of the earth’s subsurface to depths of more than 400 m – all from the air. This unique technology has helped geological organizations and government water works on five continents unearth a wealth of information about groundwater. SkyTEM has been called upon to collect critical data for projects ranging from groundwater availability on a Galapagos Island and groundwater recharge in the Ogallala Aquifer in Nebraska to mapping fresh/salt water interfaces in Denmark and Australia.
Yarwun Tailings Storage Facility
SkyTEM Surveys' Australian partner, GroundProbe, conducted an airborne suvery for Rio Tinto Alcan to assess current and potential impacts of planned expansions to its Yarwun Tailngs Storage Facility (TSF). Using the unique high-resolution and calibr...
Exploration of buried valleys / paleochannels
Setting Denmark is a world leader in mapping groundwater resources. In the 1990s in order to locate and protect the country's natural resources the Danish Government embanked on the ambitious plan to map the subsurface of the entire country. The Danis...
Mapping salinity
The Danish Hydrology Research Center, HOBE wanted to balance the water budget calculations of a catchment area. They suspected the aquifer was discharging into a lagoon via a buried channel and investigated the area to determine the channel’s significance in submarine groundwater discharge (SGD).
Mapping fresh water and saltwater encroachment
Setting: The Galapagos Island of Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz supports 13,000 inhabitants and 120,000 annual visitors and there is very little evidence of groundwater on the island. Drilling restrictions and challenging terrain prevent traditional hydrogeol...
Environmental assessment pollution plume related to groundwater in Ribe, Denmark
From 1956 until 1973, untreated wastewater from a chemical plant was dumped into 6 pits in a plantation in the south-western part of Jutland, Denmark 0.5-1.0 km from the coastline. Today, it is one of the worst pollution scenarios in Denmark with high concentrations of e.g. chlorinated organic solvents.