Assessment of Thermal and Landuse/Cover Dynamics in a Flare Area Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques

Flaring in Nigeria contributes a measurable percentage of the world’s total emissions of greenhouse gases; due to the low efficiency of many of the flares much of the gas is released as methane (which has a high warming potential), rather than carbon dioxide.This gas flaring expends huge amounts of energy and causes environmental degradation. This work quantitatively assess baseline changes near a flare area in the study area, especially with relation to the spatial variation through time, in landuse and thermal conditions, to determine risk scenarios or environmental exposure using Remote Sensing and GIS tools. The landuse/landcover change analysis was conducted using datasets obtained mostly from Landsat TM imagery obtained for a period between 1986 and 2010.The quantitative evidences of land use dynamics revealed the dynamic growth of artificial surface. Rate of change of built-up areas was as high as 3.55% between 2000 and 2007 indicating an upward trend in the growth of human population residing in the flare area. This indicates growing exposure to thermal pollution in the study area.Long term impact of gas flaring may be verified by studying medical history of residents within the buffered impact zone and those outside the area.