Detection accuracy of new well sites using Landsat time series data: a case study in the Alberta Oil Sands Region

Abstract

ABSTRACTForest change features related to resource exploration and extraction are important in the Alberta Oil Sands Region (AOSR), where, for example, 2486 oil and gas well sites were established in a 5000 km2 area on three leases in the period 1984–2011. A newly established well site is typically readily identified visually in Landsat multispectral and high spatial resolution imagery, but poses an automated detection and mapping challenge over larger areas and long time periods relative to other major disturbance features. In this study, Landsat time series image composites from the national Composite-2-Change (C2C) change detection protocol were used in a comparison to randomly sampled, independently-generated well site reference data. The highest accuracy reported was approximately 83%, with relatively low errors of omission (13%) and high errors of commission (up to 37%). Future research will incorporate well site disturbance object characteristics in this type of regionally-sensitive forest change analysis.