The DAMSAT system houses a collection of modules that cover different aspects of a dam or deposit. This means that DAMSAT can be adapted to meet the individual needs of each dam site. For each implementation, we assemble a collection of modules that are tailored to suit the situation on-the-ground and the particular user requirements.
DAMSAT module summary
 | General information Displays information about the site being monitored, along with emergency contact details. |
 | Warnings Generates alerts when movements or leakage indicators change outside the site’s specified safe thresholds are detected. Find out more > |
 | Visualisation Allows users to visually inspect their site by comparing the latest photos with historic images to identify changes in the areas of interest. Find out more > |
 | Movement detection Information about movements in and around the site . This can be wide area surface movement by InSAR, or discrete point movement data by GNSS. Find out more > |
 | Pollution Monitor changes to pollution indicators – iron oxide and vegetation health – in areas downstream of the site to identify possible leakage or pollution incidents. Find out more > |
 | Hydrometeorological forecast Site rainfall forecasts, estimated discharge and change in water levels behind the dam. The latest forecast and the maximum and minimum values from previous forecasts are presented graphically. Find out more > |
 | Risk analysis Information to support the development of emergency plans, helping to improve the understanding of the risks downstream if a failure of the dam occurs. Find out more > |
 | Tailings beach In tailings dams, water is kept away from the dam crest. This module detects the water surface based on the value of the normalised water difference index. Find out more > |
Take a look at DAMSAT’s modules
Warnings
Displays warnings, which are generated when the movement detection, pollution, hydrometeorological forecast or tailings beach modules exceed certain thresholds specified by the user. DAMSAT maintains warning histories so users can analyse any previous warnings and possible actions taken.
Visualisation
The visualisation module allows remote visual inspection of the site. It allows users to manually compare new and archive satellite images of a site to detect relevant changes that may have occurred over time within the specified area.
Movement detection
Information about ground movements at the site and nearby areas, allowing users to make informed decisions about potential problems. Satellite- data, combined with real-time data from in-situ devices, is used to detect displacements over large areas with millimetre level precision, highlighting potential risks to safety. Displacement data is used to generate warnings when the user defined threshold is exceeded.
Pollution
Helps to identify possible leakage or pollution incidents from a site by providing information about changes in two indicators, iron oxide and vegetation health, in areas downstream of the dam. DAMSAT processes satellite images to produce outputs in a defined region with areas of interest highlighted to show where changes have been detected.
Hydrometeorological forecast
This modules provide forecasts of the potential hazards from rainfall, including:
- Rainfall forecast based on the meteorological forecast.
- Flow from the upstream catchment into the site of interest based on rainfall-runoff modelling.
- For tailings dams and tailings deposits, flow into the pond or reservoir based on the estimation of the flow from the upstream catchment and the amount that can be intercepted by the drainage channels.
- For water and tailings dams only, change in the reservoir and pond’s water level based on a storage model.
DAMSAT can produce forecasts up to 10 days into the future using NOAA data and six days using ECMWF data.
Risk analysis
Helps users to develop emergency plans and improve their understanding of the risks downstream if a dam failure occurs. The risk analysis data considers the simulation of the outflow from the water or tailings dam if there is a failure (the breaching of the structure), its spread downstream, and how it impacts people living in the area downstream. A suite of consequence related models is used to create these simulations. With this information, estimations of economic and environmental damages are also quantified. The risk models can provide information about:
- Extent of inundation in the downstream valley including water depths and flow velocity;
- Economic damages resulting from dam breach scenario;
- Loss of life resulting from a dam breach scenario under different “warning to population” scenarios;
- Classification of environmental damage resulting from a dam breach scenario.
Tailings beach
The tailings beach module tells users about the extent of the beach in active tailings storage facilities that are raised by upstream or centreline method. Satellite data is used to detect the water surface based on the value of the normalised water difference index.
Water inside the tailings storage facility reservoir area is detected and the percentage of beach and water inside the reservoir is provided. The minimum beach distance between water inside the tailings storage facility and the predefined crest line is also shown.
