Land Disturbance Classification in Alberta Oil Sands from 2009-2010

Alberta's Cold Lake oil sands region contains geospatial data classifying vegetation loss into nine categories from 2009 to 2010. The Government of Alberta produced this dataset using Landsat imagery and land cover classification data to support regional planning. It was released as part of the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan implementation.

Use Cases

• Classify vegetation loss from anthropogenic disturbances like infrastructure development using the nine disturbance categories.
• Monitor vegetation recovery in areas like cut blocks or harvested areas by analyzing temporal changes between 2009 and 2010.
• Assess cumulative environmental impacts by mapping developed areas, mixed developed areas, and transitional bare surfaces.
• Establish baseline data for surface infrastructure planning by analyzing the spatial distribution of grassland, shrubland, and agricultural areas.

Strengths

• Data covers a defined geographic area: Township 56 to 69, Range 1 to 11, west of the 4th Meridian.
• Classification system includes nine distinct categories for detailed analysis of land disturbance types.

Limitations

• Data temporal coverage is limited to two years (2009 and 2010), restricting analysis of long-term trends.
• The dataset focuses only on vegetation loss, not providing a complete picture of all land-use changes.
• Specific row count, column count, and spatial resolution details are unavailable for assessing granularity.

Provenance

Source

Government of Alberta

Collection Method

Derived from Landsat multispectral imagery for 2009 and 2010 and land use/land cover classification data from 2010.

Time Range

2009-2010

Freshness

null

Geography

Cold Lake oil sands area in Alberta, Canada (Township 56 to 69, Range 1 to 11, west of the 4th Meridian).