Alina Ann Smalec
Landscape Change in the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field, Alaska and Potential Implications for Resource Development in Parsons Lake, Northwest Territories © 2011
A time series of Landsat MSS, TM, and ETM+ data were used to evaluate NDVI values, which acted as a proxy tobiomass, and landscape fragmentation for Prudhoe Bay, AK and Parsons Lake, NWT. Beginning in the 1970s, Prudhoe Bay’s oil field underwent development, while Parsons Lake remained free from development thus acting as a control site. An analysis of NDVI values demonstrated an increase over time of 0.0038/year for Prudhoe Bay and 0.0063/year for Parsons Lake. A fragmentation analysis of Prudhoe Bay demonstrated that fragmentation increased over time. For example, number of developed patches increased by approximately 1750, and landscape complexity for the developed class increased over 80%. For Parsons Lake, the fragmentation analysis affirmed the lack of development. Overall, fragmentation results for Prudhoe Bay indicated that although fragmentation occurred as a result of development, this development did not have a detectable impact on NDVI values at the current scale.