Analysis of changes of the vegetation condition on the area of the closed Prosper-Haniel mine in 1984-2021 using multispectral satellite images

Abstract

Mining processes have a significant impact on the surrounding environment even after the exploitation has ceased. Today a continuous monitoring of post-mining processes in the areas of water management, vegetation and air pollution is important. In the project “Digital Twin – Integrated Geomonitoring” funded by the RAG Stiftung (no.20-0013) and carried out in cooperation with the Geological Survey of North-Rhine Westphalia, scientists are investigating the possibilities of integrating and fusing data from multiple sources (mining and geological maps, in-situ measurements, drone flights and satellite missions). The goal is to understand the causes and phenomena occurring on the Earth’s surface and thus to generate a process understanding. The key issue of this project is geo-monitoring of the environment in mining areas using vegetation indicators. This paper presents an analysis of the vegetation health of the cover for the period 1984-2021 using selected remote sensing indicators: NDVI, GNDVI, SAVI, MSAVI, NDWI and MNDWI. The studies indicate the possibility of long-term spatial-temporal observations of a selected test area in order to observe the impact of post-mining processes in the area of the closed Prosper-Haniel mine.