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Mining industry

Remote Sensing Study Reveals Impact of Coal Mining on Vegetation Cover

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

A recent study has shed light on the effects of coal mining on vegetation cover in low hilly areas. Researchers from Henan Polytechnic University in China used Sentinel-2A remote sensing data to assess the cover of non-photosynthetic vegetation (NPV) and photosynthetic vegetation (PV) in a coal mine area. The study found that the areas with high NPV cover showed an expansion trend with the increase in the number of coal mining faces, indicating a negative impact of mining activities on vegetation cover.

Key Takeaways:

  • The triangular spectral mixture model composed of NDVI and DFI was more capable of explaining the division of variability between PV, NPV, and background soil (BS) in the hilly terrain.
  • The correlation coefficient of f[NPV] estimated by DFI was R² of 0.57, and the RMSE was 0.16, indicating a high correlation.
  • The pixel selection after removing building and water body noise using supervised classification with GF-2 images significantly improved the recognition performance.
  • The average fNPV of the mine site increased from 2016 to 2024, with an average annual growth rate of 0.57%.
  • The study provides an important scientific basis for the monitoring and restoration of the ecological environment in the coal mine area.
  • The research offers reliable data support for the development of ecological restoration strategies in the mine area.

Statistics:

  • Correlation coefficient of f[NPV] estimated by DFI: R² of 0.57.
  • Root mean square error (RMSE) of f[NPV]: 0.16.
  • Average annual growth rate of fNPV: 0.57%.
  • Number of coal mining faces: Not specified.

Sources:

  • Estimation of Photosynthetic and Non-Photosynthetic Vegetation Coverage in Coal Mining Areas and Their Responses to Mining Activities Using Sentinel-2A Data. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 2025,18():18080-18094.
  • Researchers at Henan Polytechnic University Zero in on Remote Sensing (Estimation of Photosynthetic and Non-Photosynthetic Vegetation Coverage in Coal Mining Areas and Their Responses to Mining Activities Using Sentinel-2A Data). Ecology, Environment & Conservation. August 15, 2025; p 992.
  • Pengfei Wang, Shidong Wang, Hebing Zhang, Yiheng Jiao, Menglin Liu. Estimation of Photosynthetic and Non-Photosynthetic Vegetation Coverage in Coal Mining Areas and Their Responses to Mining Activities Using Sentinel-2A Data. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, 2025,18():18080-18094.

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