ul 2004 
ectonic 
le, SW 
LN 
irc and 
of the 
W. A. 
On the 
Crete in 
si, Bati 
… Kinik 
castern 
1-3. 
chanics 
thquke, 
Adana. 
of The 
gies: A 
C Joint 
L. 
ta, Y., 
ea, The 
Project 
Report 
aults of 
enderes 
39-242. 
treching 
faulting: 
>nsional 
2. The 
and 12 
Landsat 
ment in 
of NW 
magery, 
naz, K., 
did the 
ies and 
n, Spec. 
ESTIMATION OF ROCK GLACIER DYNAMICS BY ENVIRONMENTAL MODELLING 
AND AUTOMATIC PHOTOGRAMMETRIC TECHNICS 
J.J. de Sanjosé®, J. L. Lerma" 
* Universidad de Extremadura, Escuela Politécnica, Departamento de Expresión Gráfica, 10071 Cáceres, España — 
jjblasco@unex.es 
? Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Departamento de Ingeniería Cartográfica, Geodesia y Fotogrametría, 46022 
Valencia, España — jllerma@cgf.upv.es 
Commission VII, WG VII/3 
KEY WORDS: Photogrammetry, Climate, Geodesy, Glaciology, Correlation, Prediction, Close Range 
ABSTRACT: 
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. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
Nowadays, world's glaciers are disappearing and this fact could 
be derived due to climate change. Spain has glaciers (white and 
rocks) nearer to equator than any other country in Europe. 
Unfortunately, there are not any kind of studies about their 
dynamics, unlike it occurs with some Alpine glaciers (which 
have been studied since 1850). 
Traditionally, glaciers! dynamic measuring has been done 
through techniques such as geodesy or aerial photogrammetry 
(Kaufmann and Ploesch, 2000). From our point of view, both 
techniques have drawbacks: 
* Geodesy: Spatial determination (X,Y,Z) with little 
points in space. 
* Aerlal photogrammetry: It is very expensive for the 
study of small and far away areas. 
To overcome these disadvantages, our photographs have been 
taken from an helicopter on the job. 
The automatic analysis of the Argualas rock glacier was carried 
out as follows: 
l. Geodesical data (six observations) studied since 1991. 
Climatical data taken from the Meteorology National 
Institute (I.N.M.) since 1991. 
Correlation among of the information stated before 
and mathematical techniques (dynamic system), in 
order to obtain future geodesic mark targets or 
"control points". 
3. Analogical photographies (Rollei semimetric camera 
M 
905 
6008) and scanning (Vexcel, UltraScan, 5000) 
previous to running the C.D.W. “Workstation Digital 
Close Range” software. 
4. “Foto-Cartögrafo” software, which employs filters to 
improve the quality of the images (elimination of 
noises) and detects the presigned photogrammetric 
targets. 
2. DETAILS OF A PYRENEES ROCK GLACIER 
To form a glacier, the snowed part must be bigger than the 
melted snow. This happens when it snows a lot and it is so cold 
that the snow is on the rocks. In addition, if there are stones fall 
down of the wall the permafrost is preserved, in this is a rock 
glacier (Figure 1). 
The active rocks glaciers move very slowly because of the size 
of the blocks of stones, the slope of the glacier, the temperature, 
etc. Besides, the glacier dynamic is not the same in all of its 
surfaces (the front side is much more dynamic). Additionally, 
its dynamic depends on the season (for instance, in summer the 
dynamic is higher than in winter). 
The Argualas rock glacier is orientated to the northwest part of 
Mountain Argualas (3032 m); it is 750 m long and 400 m wide. 
The geophysics studies have shown a layer of surface of 2 m 
and 4 m stones thickness, and a permafrost surface below 
ranging from 10 m (near the border) to 20 m (near the center) 
(Fabre et al., 1995).