The Methodology and Results from Ground Validation of Satellite Observations at Gas Flaring Sites in Nigeria

Abstract

This study examines the need/importance for ground validation of Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) and Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) observation at 2 gas flaring sites in Rivers State of Niger Delta, Nigeria. 12 Landsat imageries (3 Landsat 5 TM and 9 Landsat 7 ETM+) acquired from 25/03/1987 to 08/03/2013 with < 5 % cloud contamination were used. Both sites are located within a single Landsat scene (Path 188, Row 057). Fieldwork measurements and observations at both sites took place from (04/08/2012-21/09/2012) and (05/08/2019-22/09/2019). The parameters measured are coordinates of points and features, air temperature and relative humidity; and photographs of locations and features were taken. Both air temperature and relative humidity were measured at 3 different levels above the ground surface at 1 minute interval. The closer the distance to the flare stack, the higher the air temperature measured and vice versa. Land Surface Temperature (LST) retrieved from Landsat 5 TM and Landsat 7 ETM+ also shows that the closer the distance to the flare stack, the higher the LST and vice versa. The locational error of points obtained from Landsat 5 TM and Landsat 7 ETM+, and fieldwork measurements give negligible difference of 1.0 × 10-6 to 7.3 × 10-6. Several features, and 4 land use and land cover (LULC) within the sites were clarified. The pattern of plumes from the flare stacks moves outwardly at both sites. Results show that the spatial variability in ground air temperature and derived LST from Landsat 5 TM and Landsat 7 ETM+ differs within 0.8 to 6.0 K because air temperature is different from LST. The results of locational error, LULC, air temperature, LST, and the pattern of plumes observed at both sites show that ground validation through measurement of in-situ data is indispensable to the use of Landsat 5 TM and Landsat 7 ETM+ data and remote sensing technology in the Niger Delta.

Keywords

• Ground validation
• Satellites
• Methodology
• Imageries
• Gas flaring
• Niger Delta

References

1. Al-Abdulrazzak, D and Pauly, D. (2014). Ground-truthing the ground-truth: reply to Garibaldi et al.’s comment on “Managing fisheries from space: Google Earth improves estimates of distant fish catches”. ICES Journal of Marine Science 71: 1927-1931.
2. Allan, A. L. (2010). Practical Surveying and Computations. Revised Fourth Edition, Laxtons, Hartnolls Limited, Bodmin, Cornwall, UK.
3. Bekwe, W. F. (2003). Urban flood hazards mapping; A GIS approach: A case study of Port Harcourt. Unpublished M.Sc. Dissertation, University of Ibadan, Ibadan.
4. Brown, K. (1996). The Utility of Remote Sensing Technology in Monitoring Carbon Sequestration Agroforestry Projects. Forest Carbon Monitoring Program. College of Forest Resources, University of Washington, Washington. Pp. 22. [Online]. Available: http://www.amazon.co.uk/technology-monitoring-sequestration-agroforestry-p [Accessed 11th July 2019].
5. Chander, G., Markham, K. (2003). Revised Landsat-5 TM Radiometric Calibration Procedures and Postcalibration Dynamic Ranges. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 41(11): 2674-2677.
6. Chen, F., Zhao, X., Ye, H. (2012). Making use of the Landsat 7 SLC-off ETM+ image through different recovering approaches. Postgraduate Conference on Infrastructure and Environment (3rd IPCIE), vol. 2, pp. 557-563. [Online]. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/48535 [Accessed 26th November 2019].
7. Coll, C., Galve, J. M., Sanchez, J. M., Caselles, V. (2010). Validation of Landsat - 7 ETM+ thermal-band calibration and atmospheric correction with ground-based measurement. IEEE Transaction on Geosciences and Remote Sensing 48(1): 547-555.
8. Dung, E. J., Bombom, L. S., Agusomu, T. D. (2008). The effects of gas flaring on crops in the Niger Delta, Nigeria. GeoJournal 73: 297-305.

9. Ferguson, R. S. (1991). Detection and classification of muskox habitat on Banks Island, Northwest Territories, Canada, using landsat thematic mapper data, Arctic, 44, suppl. 1, 66-74, ASTIS record 31329.
10. Franklin, S. E. (1991). Topographic data and satellite spectral response in subarctic high-relief terrain analysis, Arctic 44(1): 15-20.
11. Garibaldi, L., Gee, J., Sachiko, T., Mannini, P., Currie, D. (2014). Comment on: Managing fisheries from space: Google Earth improves estimates of distant fish catches by Al-Abdulrazzak and Pauly. ICES Journal of Marine Science 71: 1921-1926.
12. Gong, P., Zhongxin, C., Huajun, T. (2006). Progress of the research on classification system of land vegetation. China Journal of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning 27(2): 35-40.
13. Ifatimehin, O. O., Adeyemi, S. (2008). A satellite remote sensing based land surface temperature retrieval from Landsat TM. Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies and Management 1 (3): 63-70.
14. Johnson J. A., Johnson, A. M. (2015). Urban–rural Differences in Childhood and Adolescent Obesity in the United States: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Child Obesity 11(3):233-41.
15. Matthews, S. B. (1991). An assessment of bison habitat in the Mills/Mink lakes area, Northwest Territories, using Landsat Thematic Mapper Data, Arctic, 44, suppl. 1, 75-80, ASTIS record 31,330.
16. Metz, M., Andreo, V., Neteler, M. (2017). A New Fully Gap-Free Time Series of Land Surface Temperature from MODIS LST Data. Remote Sensing. 9, 1333.
17. Militino, A. F., Ugarte, M. D., Pérez-Goya, U. (2018). Improving the Quality of Satellite Imagery Based on Ground-Truth Data from Rain Gauge Stations. Remote Sensing, 1-16.
18. Morakinyo, B. O., Lavender, S., Abbott, V. (2019). Mapping of Land Cover and Estimation of their Emissivity Values for Gas Flaring Sites in the Niger Delta. British Journal of Environmental Sciences l.7 (2): 31-58.
19. Morakinyo, B. O. (2015). Flaring and Pollution Detection in the Niger Delta using Remote Sensing. Ph.D Thesis, School of Marine Science and Engineering, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, United Kingdom.
20. Otukei, J. R.. Blaschke, T. (2012). You Know The Temperature at the Weather Station But Do You Know It Anywhere Else? Assessing Land Surface Temperature Using Landsat ETM+ Data. In Proceedings of The first Conference on Advances in Geomatics Research. [Online]. Available: http://www.cedat.mak.ac.ug/wp-content/themes/CEDAT-Theme/Publications/You%20Know%20The%20Temperature%20at%20the%20Weather%20Station%20But%20Do%20You%20Know%20It%20Anywhere%20Else_Assessing%20Land%20S.pdf [Accessed 17th February 2019].
21. Pareta, K. (2014). Land use and land cover changes detection using multi-temporal satellite data. International Journal of Management and Social Sciences Research 3(7): 10-17.
22. Pressler, R. R., Walker, D. B. (1999). Integrating Deep Tow and Conventional 3D Seismic For Deepwater Seafloor Imaging. Offshore 59(7): 98-99.
23. Sadd, J. L., Hall, E. S., Pastor, M., Morello-Frosch, R. A., Lowe-Liang, D., Hayes, J., Swanson, C. (2015). Ground-Truthing Validation to Assess the Effect of Facility Locational Error on Cumulative Impacts Screening Tools. Geography Journal Volume 2015, Article ID 324683, 8 pages, http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/324683.
24. Serpetti, N., Heath, M., Armstrong, E., Witte, U. (2011). Blending single beam RoxAnn and multi-beam swathe QTC hydro-acoustic discrimination techniques for the Stonehaven area, Scotland, UK. Sea Research 65(4): 442-455.
25. Smith, K., Loughlin, S., Vye, C., Ager, G. (2009). The Application of Thermal Remote Sensing for the Enhanced Mapping and Monitoring of Volcanic Terrain. In Proceedings of RSPSoc 2009 Annual Conference, 8-11th September 2009, Leicester, UK (Nottingham: RSPSoc).
26. Thomas, G.W., Peate, I. U., Nakamoto, J., Pudenz, E., Glasgow, J., Bretthauer, J., Cabrol,, N., Wettergreen, D., Grin, E., Coppin, P., Dohm, J. M., Piatek, J. L., Warren-Rhodes, K., Hock, A. N., Weinstein, S., Fisher, G., Chong Diaz, G., Cockell, C., Marinangeli, L., Minkley, N., Moersch, J., Ori, G. G., Smith, T., Stubb, K., Wagner, M., Waggoner, A. S. (2007). Comparing different methods for assessing ground truth of rover data analysis for the 2005 season of the Life in the Atacama Project. Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 112, G04S09, doi:10.1029/2006JG000318.
27. Vega, M. B., Craig, M., Lindo, G. A. (2011). Ground truthing of remotely identified fortifications on the Central Coasts of Peru. Archaeological Science 38(7): 1680-1689.
28. Yeboah, F., Awotwi, A., Korkuo, E. K. (2017). Assessing the land use and land cover changes due to urban growth in Accra, Ghana. Journal of Basic and Applied Research International 22(2): 43-50.