Assessment of Kuwait's Al-Qurain Landfill Using Remotely Sensed Data

Abstract

Kuwait's Al-Qurain landfill problem resulted from indiscriminate dumping of domestic and industrial waste in an abandoned quarry in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The landfill and surrounding areas were set aside for a government housing project without an environmental assessment of the impact of the landfill on the project. Inhabitants of the newly constructed housing area experienced persistent foul odor emanating from the landfill site. Since then, the issue has generated a lot of public interests, and several remediation measures have been adopted. In this preliminary study, several remotely sensed data consisting of Landsat Multispectral Scanner (MSS), Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM), IKONOS, and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) acquired between 1972 and 2000 were processed and assessed for their usefulness to study and monitor the landfill site. The imagery provided a historical perspective of how the areas had changed over the last 30 years. Other useful information of the landfill obtained from the satellite imagery included the spatial extent, spectral reflectance, surface temperature, and surface roughness. The landfill site showed higher surface temperatures compared to the immediate surrounding areas-a process that could accelerate the biodegradation and the release of landfill gases. Such dataset could be incorporated into a GIS for the long-term monitoring of the site.

Avaliação do sensoriamento remoto termal para monitoramento de aterros sanitários

“…Manzo et al (2016), através de diversos índices, entre eles de temperatura e vegetação, investigaram a influência antrópica de uso do solo após despejos de extração mineral no Parque Nacional Monte Vesuvius, na Itália. Kwarteng & Al-Enezi (2004), através de um levantamento temporal de imagens de médio e baixa resolução e seus índices, avaliaram um aterro não controlado no Kuwait, o qual causava problemas, desde um forte mau cheiro, até problemas de saúde pública devido à proximidade com habitações.…”

Detection of olive oil mill waste (OOMW) disposal areas using high resolution GeoEye’s OrbView-3 and Google Earth images

“…This relative low number of publications should be linked to the local problem of OOMW disposal areas in the Mediterranean countries. Similar studies related either to the detection of uncontrolled landfills or to hazardous wastes [17][18][19][20][21] have shown the great potential of remote sensing to detect these sites. The synoptic view of overhead remote imaging can be very useful for the recognition and remediation of landfills and waste disposal areas.…”

Visible and Infrared Remote Imaging of Hazardous Waste: A Review

“…Jones and Elgy determined that multispectral data could be used to monitor landfill gas migration and its effect on vegetation [33]. Kwarteng and Al-Enezi demonstrated that multispectral imagery could be used to monitor landfill development and its associated pollution profile [34].…”

“…Examples include the discovery and monitoring of underground fires at mines or landfills [115][116][117][118][119][120][121][122][123], the thermal characteristics of landfill processes [124,125], seeps or the release of leachate into the environment [126,127], or structural characteristics of landfill caps and other remediation methods [36,[128][129][130].…”