Prediction of the Environmental Impact of Mining Industry Based on Satellite Observations

Abstract

Environmental impact of mining is studied by two criteria: aerosol pollution and vegetation cover condition—using the data of long-term satellite observations. In terms of the mining and processing industry on the Kola Peninsula, environmental impact is predicted as overlapping of aerosol pollution areas and decrease in the vegetation index. It is shown that predicted boundaries of impact-zones match in case of one or two sources of effect, and unmatch in case of many sources. The proposed approach to integration of the remote sensing data allows differentiating between the environmental impact of mining and natural change of the vegetation cover.