| Title | Monitoring cumulative long-term vegetation changes over Athabasca Oil Sands region |
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| Author | Latifovic, R; Pouliot, D |
| Source | IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing vol. 7, issue 8, 2014 p. 3380-3392, https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2014.2321058 |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2014 |
| Alt Series | Earth Sciences Sector, Contribution Series 20130198 |
| Publisher | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf; html |
| Province | Alberta; Saskatchewan |
| NTS | 74D; 74E; 84A; 84H |
| Area | Athabasca River |
| Lat/Long WENS | -114.0000 -109.0000 58.5000 55.5000 |
| Subjects | geophysics; environmental geology; Nature and Environment; Economics and Industry; Science and Technology; remote sensing; satellite imagery; vegetation; environmental impacts; petroleum industry;
hydrocarbons; oil sands; hydrocarbon recovery; mining; petroleum refining processes; climate effects; stress patterns; Athabasca oil sands; Indexes; Forests; cumulative effects |
| Illustrations | location maps; time series; bar graphs; tables; satellite images; plots; profiles; sketch maps |
| Program | Remote Sensing Science |
| Released | 2014 05 22 |
| Abstract | This study uses two remotely sensed vegetation indices to investigate cumulative long-term changes of undisturbed vegetation in the Athabasca Oil Sands region of Alberta, Canada, between 1984 and 2012.
The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Normalized Difference Wetness Index (NDWI) were derived from both Landsat and MODIS time series, for comparative purposes and to increase confidence in detected trends. Trend analysis of
undisturbed forest areas, i.e., area without abrupt changes revealed a consistent decrease in vegetation condition, quantified by an average reduction of 18.6% (${bf SD} = {bf 5.02%} $) in NDVI and of 31.0% (${bf SD} = {bf 10.06%} $) in NDWI, over
the 28-year period. The study does not conclusively associate the trends with any single stressor, but seeks to quantify the spatial and temporal distribution of cumulative effects resulting from a variety of natural and anthropogenic causes.
Examination of the temporal pattern of trends showed an increase in the occurrence of decreasing trends in the last 10 years. The decreasing trends were more frequent closer to mining developments for both the Landsat and MODIS time series. Climate
change was not considered a major causal factor as climate normalized trends had little effect on the results. The trend analysis undertaken can be used to enhance in situ monitoring programs for site selection of additional monitoring facilities
particularly regarding potential cumulative effects, provide an indication of likely future short-term changes in the region, and to aid in the development of mitigation measures. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
This study uses satellite Earth Observation to investigate cumulative long-term changes in vegetation condition in the Athabasca Oil Sands region of
Alberta, Canada, between 1984 and 2012. Trend analysis of two remotely sensed vegetation indices showed more frequent occurrence of decreasing trends in vegetation condition both during the last 10 years, and closer to the mine developments. In
analysing vegetation condition trends, areas of abrupt vegetation change (e.g. forest harvest, forest fire, forest removal for development) were removed. Possible contributions of temperature and precipitation on the trends were explored and found
not to be significant. The trend analysis undertaken can be used to enhance in-situ monitoring programs, to increase data collection efforts for investigation of cumulative effects, to provide an indication of likely future short-term changes, and to
aid in the development of mitigation measures. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 293008 |
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