Project 2 - Report Week

Mountain Top Removal Analysis

GIS 4930

Mountain Top Removal (MTR) was the focus of this project as well as the environmental impact it has on the countryside.  Utilizing Satellite Imagery from 2010, I was able to do a multi-band spectral analysis on those areas in our group study area (Group 3) and determine locations that may have MTR projects ongoing.  I also utilized Digital Elevation Models (DEM) to run analysis and determine locations where streams may be located.  Streams locations are important as these are greatly impacted by MTR projects.  Runoff into these streams could have detrimental impacts on the environment and surrounding wildlife.

Starting off the project we identified what groups we would be in, and those groups were assigned specific study areas.  Utilizing DEM’s we not only created a steam layer, but also identified watershed locations.  Later in the lab, the group was tasked with identifying MTR locations using 2010 reclassified satellite imagery.  This was done in ERDAS Imagine program.  The classified locations were then brought into ArcGIS and the data was converted from a raster to a polygon feature.  With the polygon feature identified noise and interference was removed.  This consisted areas around Roadways, Highways, Streams and Major Rivers, all of which shared a similar bands with MTR locations.  Finally with this removed we isolated those polygon features that were larger than 40 acres.  This left us with the most likely polygons that were MTR locations.

Our group consisted of four members.  Each member played a role in the production of the data.  We had two satellite images to analyze so we assigned 2 users to each.  I took on the responsibility of keeping communication open.  I started many of the discussions where we needed to communicate back and forth to share information.  I also was able to return initial results to the group quickly so I could share my results and give help on issues that may have arisen.  The final MTR features were posted to ArcGIS Online to share the results that the group found.  I added another layer to the map that shows coal fields as identified by the USGS Eastern Energy Resources Science Center.

Mountain Top Removal Map

ArcGIS Online Login Required