Land Disturbance Classification in Cold Lake Oil Sands Area

Nine land disturbance classes, including exposed land, developed areas, and agricultural zones, were derived from Landsat multispectral imagery for 2012 and 2013. The Government of Alberta produced this dataset to monitor vegetation loss and recovery from anthropogenic activities like oil and gas exploration. It serves as baseline data for planning and managing surface infrastructure impacts within the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan.

Use Cases

• Quantify vegetation loss from oil and gas infrastructure using the 'exposed land/cut blocks/harvested areas' class.
• Monitor land cover change over time by comparing the 2012-2013 classified 'developed areas' and 'mixed developed areas'.
• Assess regional recovery patterns by analyzing the 'shrub land', 'grassland', and 'transitional bare surfaces' classifications.
• Model anthropogenic disturbance footprints by combining classes for infrastructure, forestry, and 'agricultural areas'.

Strengths

• Classification into 9 distinct land disturbance and cover categories.
• Derived from Landsat multispectral imagery for two consecutive years (2012-2013).
• Covers a defined region of Alberta's oil sands (Townships 56-69, Ranges 1-11).

Limitations

• Dataset size and row count are unknown.
• Temporal coverage is limited to a two-year period (2012-2013).
• Specific accuracy metrics for the classification are not provided.

Provenance

Source

Government of Alberta.

Collection Method

Produced from Landsat multispectral imagery and land use/cover classification data.

Time Range

2012 to 2013.

Freshness

Last updated in March 2026, but underlying imagery is from 2012-2013.

Geography

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