Time-Series Land-use/Land-cover Classifications of the Cold Lake Oil Sands Area of Alberta, Derived from 1985 to 2016 Landsat Multispectral Data (image data, TIFF format)

This time-series land-use and land-cover (LULC) classification dataset is derived from 1985 to 2016 Landsat multispectral imagery for the Cold Lake Oil Sands Area portion that falls within the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan (LARP) area. As part of Alberta’s Land-use Framework, LARP was developed in 2012 to set the stage for robust growth, vibrant communities and a healthy environment within the region. One of its implementation objectives is to balance the economic development of oil sands and impacts on ecosystem and environment. This is to be achieved through enhanced science-based monitoring for improved characterization of the environment and collection of the information necessary to understand cumulative effects.

This land classification raster dataset contains 11 classes: 0 - Unclassified, 1 - Shrubland, 2 - Grassland, 3 - Coniferous Forest, 4 - Deciduous Forest, 5 - Open Water, 6 - Wetland (Bog/Fen/Marsh/Swamp), 7 - Exposed Land/Bare Soil, 8 - Cropland/Pasture, 9 - Developed Footprints, and 10 - Fire Scar. These categories can be used as baseline data for planning, managing and monitoring surface infrastructure needs and impacts.

The time-series are stacked to create a 16-band TIFF image with each band representing a five-year interval between 1985 and 2005 and an annual interval between 2005 and 2016.