Abstract
The study was performed on two former sulphur mines located in Southeast Poland: Jeziórko, where 216.5 ha of afforested area was reclaimed after borehole exploitation and Machów, where 871.7 ha of dump area was reclaimed after open cast strip mining. The areas were characterized by its terrain structure and vegetation cover resulting from the reclamation process. The types of reclamation applied in these areas were forestry in Jeziórko and agroforestry in the Machów post-sulphur mine. The study investigates the possibility of applying the most recent Sentinel-2 (ESA) satellite imageries for land cover mapping, with a primary focus on detecting and monitoring afforested areas. Airborne laser scanning point clouds were used to derive precise information about the spatial (3D) characteristics of vegetation: the height (95th percentile), std. dev. of relative height, and canopy cover. The results of the study show an increase in afforested areas in the former sulphur mines. For the entire analyzed area of Jeziórko, forested areas made up 82.0% in the year 2000 (Landsat 7, NASA), 88.8% in 2009 (aerial orthophoto), and 95.5% in 2016 (Sentinel-2, ESA). For Machów, the corresponding results were 46.1% in 2000, 57.3% in 2009, and 60.7% in 2016. A dynamic increase of afforested area was observed, especially in the Jeziórko test site, with the presence of different stages of vegetation growth.
Highlights
Data sets collected using remote sensing technologies, and processed and integrated into Geographic Information Systems (GIS), can be used to derive 2D and 3D spatial information, a useful tool in land management, forestry, or the reclamation of degraded areas. They are an irreplaceable source of knowledge about changes taking place in the environment, with natural processes resulting from both climatic conditions and anthropogenic factors [1]
Reclaimed areas were characterised by a high dispersion of land cover classes, but Sentinel-2 images allowed the correct identification of land use and land cover (LULC) classes
The current availability of spatial data obtained with remote sensing technologies provides access to objective and precise information about the surrounding environment
Summary
Data sets collected using remote sensing technologies, and processed and integrated into Geographic Information Systems (GIS), can be used to derive 2D and 3D spatial information, a useful tool in land management, forestry, or the reclamation of degraded areas. They are an irreplaceable source of knowledge about changes taking place in the environment, with natural processes resulting from both climatic conditions and anthropogenic factors [1]. As post-industrial landscapes, are examples of land transformation. The monitoring of forested regions in post-industrial areas is an important and up-to-date issue [8,9,10,11], mainly in terms of the assessment of reclamation results
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