Sinkholes, subsidence and subrosion on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea as revealed by a close-range photogrammetric survey

Ground subsidence and sinkhole collapse are phenomena affecting regions of karst geology worldwide. The rapid development of such phenomena around the Dead Sea in the last four decades poses a major geological hazard to the local population, agriculture and industry. Nonetheless many aspects of this hazard are still incompletely described and understood, especially on the eastern Dead Sea shore. In this work, we present a first low altitude (< 150m above ground) aerial photogrammetric survey with a Helikite Balloon at the sinkhole area of Ghor Al-Haditha, Jordan. We provide a detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis of a new, high resolution digital surface model (5cm px−1) and orthophoto of this area (2.1km2). We also outline the factors affecting the quality and accuracy of this approach.