Satellite Vegetation Monitoring Challenges for Oil Pollution in the Niger Delta Community

Monitoring vegetation and land cover changes over time in oil-impacted regions is crucial for assessing ecological degradation and informing remediation options. This study aimed to identify the challenges encountered when using Landsat imagery to detect changes in vegetation health and land cover in Bodo, a hydrocarbon-impacted community in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria, over a 20-year period. Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI imagery were used to derive the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalised Difference Water Index (NDWI), and Normalised Difference Built-up Index (NDBI) from 2003 to 2023. Data continuity was affected by the Landsat 7 Scan Line Corrector malfunction in the 2008 images and by high cloud coverage in the Landsat 8 OLI 2013 images. Hence, 2008 and 2013 were excluded from the analysis, limiting multi-year comparisons. Results from the available years indicated that NDBI values increased gradually, suggesting minor urban expansion. Stable but low NDWI levels suggest water stress, while changing NDVI values indicate alterations in vegetative health. However, this study highlights observable environmental changes and the challenges involved in using satellite imagery for environmental monitoring in oil-impacted regions, underscoring the need for improved cloud-masking methodologies and radar datasets to enhance long-term environmental assessment.