Transient Electromagnetic Monitoring of Permafrost: Mathematical Modeling Based on Sumudu Integral Transform and Artificial Neural Networks

Abstract

Due to the ongoing global warming on the Earth, permafrost degradation has been extensively taking place, which poses a substantial threat to civil and industrial facilities and infrastructure elements, as well as to the utilization of natural resources in the Arctic and high-latitude regions. In order to prevent the negative consequences of permafrost thawing under the foundations of constructions, various geophysical techniques for monitoring permafrost have been proposed and applied so far: temperature, electrical, seismic and many others. We propose a cross-borehole exploration system for a high localization of target objects in the cryolithozone. A novel mathematical apparatus for three-dimensional modeling of transient electromagnetic signals by the vector finite element method has been developed. The original combination of the latter, the Sumudu integral transform and artificial neural networks makes it possible to examine spatially heterogeneous objects of the cryolithozone with a high contrast of geoelectric parameters, significantly reducing computational costs. We consider numerical simulation results of the transient electromagnetic monitoring of industrial facilities located on permafrost. The formation of a talik has been shown to significantly manifest itself in the measured electromagnetic responses, which enables timely prevention of industrial disasters and environmental catastrophes.