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Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to Evaluate Revegetation Success on Natural Gas Pipelines.
Anthony N Mesa1, Michael P Strager2, Shawn T Grushecky2
1Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA. Anm0041@mix.wvu.edu.
Environmental Management
|June 21, 2023
Summary
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) accurately assessed vegetation cover along new natural gas pipelines in West Virginia. This technology can aid challenging, dangerous inspections, improving environmental monitoring for midstream infrastructure development.
Area of Science:
- Environmental science
- Remote sensing
- Ecology
Background:
- Natural gas production in Appalachia necessitates extensive midstream infrastructure, including pipelines, causing landscape disturbances.
- Pipeline development can lead to environmental degradation, particularly sedimentation, harming freshwater ecosystems and triggering regulatory oversight.
- Current pipeline right-of-way inspections are conducted manually, posing safety risks in challenging West Virginia terrain.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the accuracy of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in replicating human inspector classifications for pipeline vegetation monitoring.
- To assess the utility of RGB and multispectral sensors on UAVs for environmental inspection tasks.
- To determine if UAV technology can serve as a complementary tool for pipeline inspection.
Main Methods:
- UAVs equipped with RGB and multispectral sensors collected data along new pipeline rights-of-way.
- A support vector machine classification model was developed to predict vegetation cover using both sensor datasets.
- Inspector-defined validation plots were used to compare UAV-derived classifications with ground-truth data.
Main Results:
- Both RGB and multispectral sensor data yielded comparable, high accuracy in predicting vegetation cover.
- The UAV-based classification model demonstrated significant accuracy, validating its potential for environmental monitoring.
- The study confirmed the capability of UAV technology to augment existing pipeline inspection processes.
Conclusions:
- UAVs offer a viable and accurate method for monitoring vegetation re-establishment along pipeline corridors.
- This technology can enhance the safety and efficiency of inspections in difficult terrains, complementing manual efforts.
- Further model refinement holds promise for even greater utility in environmental management and regulatory compliance for midstream infrastructure.
