Thermal

In this analysis, it is important to determine the amount of change that has occurred to the area affected by the E-waste over the past decades as well as its surrounding areas. The specific study area of Agbogbloshie, which lies at the emergence of two river flows, has had a long history of E-waste dumping as well as pollution from the burning of the waste as well as runoff into surrounding areas. The release of these chemicals into the soil as well as water leads to a higher reflectance rate that shows an increase in the temperature of the surrounding area. Using images from the GLOVIS satellite, an analysis of the thermal image (band 6) was possible. This made it possible to make a comparison of more recent images of the site to older images taken to determine the change in temperature as more E-waste and chemicals have been added over the years. 

 The first analysis was made from the year 1991 to 2011, which showed an obvious increase in temperature of the site itself as well as the surrounding areas. A change detection map was applied to these two thermal images, which led to the expected results of an increase in temperature of the site itself, as well as a large area surrounding the site. In the following change detection maps, an increase in temperature is represented by the red.

 

 A second analysis was done to confirm these results by making the same comparison but with the thermal images of March 1985 and February 2003. A change detection map was made to show an increase in temperature between this time frame as well. It shows the surrounding water appearing warming than the previous decades. It appears that the water adjacent to the dump site has had the largest temperature increase as a result of the runoff directly into the river. 

 

 

     

     Although the change detection map shows an increase in temperature, there are a number of natural disturbances that can affect the accuracy or dramatization of the actual warming that is occurring. One disturbance that is plausible in this area is the difference in atmospheric conditions of the different times that the images were taken. Although both images were taken in the same month of the year in the first analysis, factors such as water content in the atmosphere due to the proximity of the site to the ocean may have an effect on the temperature shown in the image. Another issue that can be applied to the second analysis is the time of the year that each of these images was taken. The first image from 1985 was taken in March and the second was taken in February of 2003, which may affect the maps accuracy due to difference in seasonality.This can ultimately lead to a flaw in the accuracy of the change detection, as well as few other less obvious disturbances.