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Remote Sensing
Volume 17
Issue 23
10.3390/rs17233927
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This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.
Article

Assessing Surface Water Dynamics of Wetlands in Reclaimed Mining Areas in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, Alberta, Canada, with Time-Varying Sentinel-1 SAR and Sentinel-2 Multi-Spectral Imagery

by
Erik Biederstadt
1,
Faramarz F. Samavati
1,
Hannah Porter
2,
Elizabeth Gillis
2 and
Jan J. H. Ciborowski
2,*
1
Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
2
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Remote Sens. 2025, 17(23), 3927; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17233927
Submission received: 8 September 2025 / Revised: 9 November 2025 / Accepted: 20 November 2025 / Published: 4 December 2025
(This article belongs to the Section Ecological Remote Sensing)
Versions Notes

Abstract

Wetlands provide critical ecological and socio-economic benefits, covering approximately 45% of the Athabasca Oil Sands Region in Alberta, Canada. However, open-pit oil sand mining has led to widespread wetland loss. While reclamation efforts are ongoing, the development of effective wetland monitoring methods remain essential. This paper presents a novel approach to tracking wetland dynamics in reclaimed and reference landscapes using Sentinel-1 SAR and Sentinel-2 multispectral imagery. We assess surface water extent and emergent vegetation, validating our satellite-based measurements against high-resolution UAV-derived wetland area data (R2=0.902). Our results reveal minor differences in intra-annual variability in wetland area between wetlands in reclaimed versus those in reference landscapes. Wetlands exhibit a positive log-linear relationship between maximum depth and variability in open-water area, a pattern that was consistent between landscape types. Intra- and interannual variability in spatial extent were both positively associated with wetland area. This paper introduces the first ground-truthed automated wetland monitoring approach for the region. These findings document the similarities in range of variation between wetlands developing in reclaimed and reference landscapes and provide a simple tool to support long-term monitoring to document the persistence of wetlands forming in reclaimed landscapes.
Keywords: surface water dynamics; boreal wetlands; reclaimed landscapes; remote sensing; synthetic aperture radar; Google Earth Engine surface water dynamics; boreal wetlands; reclaimed landscapes; remote sensing; synthetic aperture radar; Google Earth Engine

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MDPI and ACS Style

Biederstadt, E.; Samavati, F.F.; Porter, H.; Gillis, E.; Ciborowski, J.J.H. Assessing Surface Water Dynamics of Wetlands in Reclaimed Mining Areas in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, Alberta, Canada, with Time-Varying Sentinel-1 SAR and Sentinel-2 Multi-Spectral Imagery. Remote Sens. 2025, 17, 3927. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17233927

AMA Style

Biederstadt E, Samavati FF, Porter H, Gillis E, Ciborowski JJH. Assessing Surface Water Dynamics of Wetlands in Reclaimed Mining Areas in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, Alberta, Canada, with Time-Varying Sentinel-1 SAR and Sentinel-2 Multi-Spectral Imagery. Remote Sensing. 2025; 17(23):3927. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17233927

Chicago/Turabian Style

Biederstadt, Erik, Faramarz F. Samavati, Hannah Porter, Elizabeth Gillis, and Jan J. H. Ciborowski. 2025. "Assessing Surface Water Dynamics of Wetlands in Reclaimed Mining Areas in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, Alberta, Canada, with Time-Varying Sentinel-1 SAR and Sentinel-2 Multi-Spectral Imagery" Remote Sensing 17, no. 23: 3927. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17233927

APA Style

Biederstadt, E., Samavati, F. F., Porter, H., Gillis, E., & Ciborowski, J. J. H. (2025). Assessing Surface Water Dynamics of Wetlands in Reclaimed Mining Areas in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, Alberta, Canada, with Time-Varying Sentinel-1 SAR and Sentinel-2 Multi-Spectral Imagery. Remote Sensing, 17(23), 3927. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17233927

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