Safety assessment of oil and gas pipelines using satellite information

Abstract

Abstract The study of influence of a pipeline laid in permafrost soils on surrounding soils is an urgent task to ensure safe operation of pipeline. It is known that increase in temperature field of frozen soils is main factor contributing to activation of negative geocryological processes that affect the reliability of underground pipeline systems. Activation of geocryological processes, waterlogging of the territory of pipeline corridor causes a change in the state and type of vegetation, which can be fixed and observed by means of satellite information interpretation. We used multi-temporal images of Landsat satellite. Decoding was carried out on ENVI software package; to assess the change in vegetation state, vegetation index NDVI was used. Results of the research show that using vegetation index allows identifying and classifying different types of vegetation, assessing changes in vegetation cover and waterlogging of the territory using satellite images at different times, and thus tracking activation and attenuation of geocryological processes and indirectly assess condition of the pipeline. The use of satellite imagery is one of the stages of geotechnical monitoring and makes it possible to quickly receive information over a large area, which is important for extensive linear systems located in remote areas, and complements ground monitoring works well.