Quality Evaluation Data for 2010 Landsat Imagery in Alberta Energy Pilot Region

2010 imagery data provides a quality evaluation layer for a Play-Based Regulation pilot area in Alberta. The dataset identifies misclassified pixels due to sensor noise, cloud, haze, and shadow for Landsat imagery. It was produced by the Alberta Energy Regulator as part of a 2014 pilot project assessing surface change from energy exploration.

Use Cases

• Masking 'bad pixels' flagged with value '1' in the quality layer to clean Landsat imagery for land cover classification.
• Assessing sensor noise and atmospheric interference (cloud, haze, shadow) in 2010 satellite data over the specified township and range grid.
• Validating surface change detection algorithms by excluding areas with known classification errors from cloud cover and shadow.
• Supporting the Play-Based Regulation framework's goal of minimizing surface impacts by providing quality-controlled baseline imagery.

Strengths

• Covers a specific regulatory pilot area spanning multiple townships (Twp. 52 to Twp. 70) and ranges (Rge. 7, W 5th Mer. to Rge. 5, W 6th Mer.).
• Focuses on a single, defined year (2010) providing a consistent temporal baseline for change analysis.
• Explicitly targets known image quality issues: sensor noise, cloud, haze, and cloud shadow.

Limitations

• Sample size and specific row/column counts for the raster data are unknown.
• Limited to a single year (2010), which may be stale for current regulatory assessments without subsequent years.
• Geographic scope is restricted to a specific pilot area in Alberta, limiting broader applicability.

Provenance

Source

Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), Government of Alberta.

Collection Method

Derived from 2010 Landsat earth observation imagery to assess surface change.

Time Range

2010

Freshness

Data represents 2010 conditions, but metadata was last updated in March 2026.

Geography

Play-Based Regulation pilot area from Twp. 52, Rge. 7, W 5th Mer. to Twp. 70, Rge. 5, W 6th Mer., covering towns including Edson, Fox Creek, Mayerthorpe, Whitecourt, Swan Hills, and Valleyview in Alberta, Canada.