Coal Mine Reclamation Performance Assessment using Time-Series Landsat Data

The Alberta Energy Regulator / Alberta Geological Survey is investigating the potential of Earth Observation (EO) data to enhance the auditing process by identifying sites-at-risk for ground assessment and tracking reclamation progression over time. The criteria for evaluating site-at-risk include vegetation type and vegetation health considering the surrounding land cover type as well as the undisturbed land condition prior to coal mining. Vegetation health is considered as a key site-at-risk indicator as it reflects if the soil is capable of sustaining life. Landsat time-series datasets were tested to assess the coal mine reclamation with the extraction of progression of coal mine disturbances and vegetation recovery from 1972 to 2016. The study area includes Gregg River, Luscar, and Cheviot coal mines located south of Hinton, Alberta.