Assesing the Potential of Digital Terrain Models for Monitoring Additional Subsidence of Communication Embankments in Mining Areas – A Case Study

Today’s technologies make it possible to capture certain phenomena that were very difficult or impossible to observe in terms of classical measurements. One of them is the so-called sinking of embankments. It is common in mining areas. It consists in the additional subsidence of the embankments into the ground, above the value of the lowering of the adjacent area. It takes place primarily in the zone of horizontal tensile deformations. The paper presents the results of comparative DTM (Digital Terrain Model) analyzes from 2001, 2014, 2018 and 2021. Their aim was to assess the usefulness of DTM data for monitoring the additional sinking of the communication embankment on the example of the northern bypass of Bytom. The authors analyzed digital terrain models generated in the process of rasterization of data from ALS (Airborn Laser Scanning).