Assessment of the anthropogenic impact of the oil and gas industry on the natural environment based on remote sensing data

Review Paper

Abstract

This review examines Earth remote sensing methods for assessing and monitoring the anthropogenic impact of oil and gas extraction on the natural environment. It details the spectral and radar interpretation criteria for identifying key types of geochemical and physical stressors: bitumenization (oil contamination), halogenesis (salinization), mechanogenesis (mechanical landscape disturbance), and atmospheric pollution. The study demonstrates that the NDVI index is the most informative tool for detecting oil contamination in soils, with values between -0.25 and 0.15 reliably indicating the presence of oil films; in water bodies, oil slicks are detected via Sentinel-1 radar imagery (VV polarization) as zones of reduced backscatter. The NDSI index is used to identify anthropogenic halogenesis (salinization): values <0.02 correspond to background soils, 0.08-0.15 to moderately saline soils, and >0.25 to salt flats with thick salt crusts. Assessment of mechanogenesis relies on the SAVI index (degraded soils: -0.1 to 0.1), NDVI (absence of vegetation: 0.133-0.166), NDBI (degree of soil sealing by infrastructure), and BSI (identification of exposed soil). Monitoring of atmospheric pollution involves detecting methane plumes using Sentinel-2 multispectral data (SWIR channels) and tracking soot deposition on snow cover during the winter season.