- Rapidly changing environmental conditions in the Arctic, driven by amplified global warming, are impacting communities and ecosystems, particularly due to added anthropogenic impacts from energy exploration and development.
- Analysis integrating remote sensing and socioeconomic data can quantify the land disturbances and help understand societal vulnerabilities of Arctic communities.
- Critical need to quantify impacts resulting from expanding drilling in the region.
- Changes to the Arctic ecosystem provide crucial links to the global climate and biogeochemical cycles.
How is land cover/use changed?
The Arctic is a hotspot of land-cover and land-use change (LCLUC) due to polar amplification of global warming [1], thawing permafrost, human activity, and the greening/browning of tundra vegetation. Arctic ecosystems are susceptible to disturbances associated with energy exploration, fires, and infrastructure expansion [2]. The expanding footprint of oil and gas exploration, concomitant to thawing permafrost in Arctic regions, poses a significant threat to Arctic ecosystems and communities.
Figure 1: True color image (left) and false color image (right) (Red/NIR/Blue) of the KIC-1 well pad in Alaska, which was drilled and closed in the 1980s. Remote sensing data shows persistence of disturbance 40 years after reclamation efforts. Note significant greening in & around the well pad (right image from 2019)
Why is this Important?
Disturbance from oil and gas expansion in the sensitive Arctic ecosystem persists for decades, causing changes in vegetation structure, deepening permafrost thaw, and habitat loss. These changes pose ongoing challenges for Arctic communities, necessitating continuous adaptation and potentially exacerbating ecosystem vulnerabilities, thereby increasing baseline community risk.
How satellite data are being used to inform decision making and Earth Action?
Spectral mixture modeling approaches [3] are applied to multispectral and hyperspectral satellite data to monitor and track sub-pixel scale LCLUC and disturbances associated with oil and gas exploration infrastructure. Quantifying past impacts on the land aids in assessing potential future impacts due to planned oil and gas drilling in Alaska.
[1] Huang et al.(2017). Nat. Cli. Chg, 7(12), 875. [2] Foster et al., (2022). ERL, 17(11), 113001. [3] Sousa D, & Small C. (2017). Rem. Sens. Env., 192, 139.
Project Investigator: Latha Baskaran, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, CA, USA; Email: latha.Baskaran@jpl.nasa.gov
The opinions expressed are solely the PI's and do not reflect NASA's or the US Government's views.