Predicting the future by analysing the past

Documenting the effects of time
ITG will monitor the Abyss of Cenote over a five to 10 year time span. Its ice is perfect for paleoclimate studies, as it has never been disturbed by mankind and researchers can better follow the ice’s long-term movements and volume changes.

Thanks to the cave’s high-altitude location, severe weather conditions and the fact that the cave was first discovered when a sinkhole collapsed in 1994, the glacier ice is absolutely pure.

The ScanStation P40 helped complete 38 high-quality, low-noise scans quickly with extremely realistic 3D coloured point clouds of the ice for researchers to monitor.

Alessio Romeo, photographer and geologist, Tommaso Santagata, surveyor and UAV pilot, and Francesco Sauro, professor at the University of Bolgona, all members of La Venta association, worked on the ITG project and were extremely impressed with the collected results. The ScanStation P40 collected long-range scans from the cave’s entrance to a depth of -130 metres inside the cave.

A Leica Viva GS16 GNSS smart antenna also measured three fixed points just outside the cave’s entrance, for all future monitoring of altitude and topographic variations inside and outside of the cave.

“Working with Leica Geosystems solutions ensured us data with high precision extremely fast – within minutes – even the parts with ice. We could always carry out our scanning, which is actually amazing, considering the difficult and dangerous environment where the equipment has been used,” said Santagata.

Story: Predicting the future by analysing the past
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Documenting the effects of time
Chapter 3: Working as a team