University of the Witwatersrand, School of Mining Engineering, Private Bag 3, 2050 Wits, Johannesburg, South Africa; University of Alaska Fairbanks, Geophysical Institute, 903 Koyukuk Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320, United States
Limpitlaw, D., University of the Witwatersrand, School of Mining Engineering, Private Bag 3, 2050 Wits, Johannesburg, South Africa; Gens, R., University of Alaska Fairbanks, Geophysical Institute, 903 Koyukuk Drive, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320, United States
The purpose of this study was to monitor the impact of mining in the Zambian Copperbelt, specifically using dambos as an environmental indicator for pollution. Data fusion using a Brovey transform was used for combining speckle filtered radar data with optical data to effectively map natural dambos and dambos that have degraded due to human impact. Comparative analysis of raw images and fusion product reveals that, whereas natural dambos show low values on Landsat reflective bands and low backscatter response in SAR imagery, degraded dambos have mixed spectral responses. Degraded dambos are difficult to identify in either optical or SAR images alone, but a fusion product highlights complimentary spectral information, making these environmental indicators uniquely identifiable.
Environmental engineering; Image analysis; Mapping; Radar imaging; Synthetic aperture radar; Dambo mapping; Environmental indicator; Environmental monitoring; Optical data; Speckle filtered radar; Mining; environmental monitoring; image analysis; Landsat thematic mapper; mapping method; radar imagery; synthetic aperture radar; Africa; Copperbelt; Southern Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; Zambia