Why Cutting-Edge Technology Plays a Vital Role in Soil Quality Monitoring Across Abu Dhabi

Soil is a living resource that is home to around 25 per cent of our planet’s biodiversity. In addition, up to 90 per cent of living organisms live or spend part of their life cycle in soils, where they play a role in breaking down certain contaminants.

Due to Abu Dhabi’s hyper-arid climate and vulnerability to natural degradation, careful land use planning and protection is required to effectively manage land and soil quality. One of the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi’s (EAD) key objectives is to ensure sustainable and integrated approaches to protecting land and soil, which is achieved through effective soil protection regulatory tools and monitoring.

As well as EAD's local objectives to monitor and mitigate soil degradation, there is also a global consideration to combat desertification and achieve Land Degradation Neutrality, which was set by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

Guided by extensive scientific literature and local knowledge of the Abu Dhabi environment, an ongoing soil quality monitoring programme was started by EAD in 2018 in order to assess the impact of human activities on land and soil resources and provide the basis for future management plans, protection policies and soil related regulations.

To understand such a vital resource to our ecosystem that covers a great portion of Abu Dhabi Emirate’s land mass, it has been necessary to enlist the help of technology. Recently, we have been working on a pilot project: “Monitoring Soil Quality Using Drones, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning”, which was executed through a partnership of highly qualified personnel from all over the world (Spain, Jordan, UK, UAE).

An array of data sets were collected from the Mussafah Industrial area, using cutting-edge technology such as drones and remote sensing by satellites to monitor, assess and map soil quality. Then artificial intelligence (AI) models were used to analyse, find patterns, identify, and forecast soil quality scenarios.

EAD is pioneering the use of drones and AI to monitor soil quality further cementing Abu Dhabi’s position as a global leader at the forefront of environmental protection through technological innovation

?The over-arching aim of the project was to map the contamination within the soil of the Abu Dhabi Emirate, highlighting which areas need to undergo remediation, recovery, or protection to ensure a more sustainable environment.

Until recently, we have relied on traditional methods such as taking measurements from soil samples collected in the field manually. This process is not only time-consuming and expensive, but, over large areas, exhibits questionable accuracy.

The benefit of remote sensing is that it allows us to detect and monitor the physical and chemical characteristics of an area from a distance. Using a combination of remote sensing (satellites and drones), as well as AI-powered data processing, provides the Agency a greater understanding of soil health. In addition, the use of satellite imagery from space produces objective, repeatable and transparent evidence.

Another advantage of remote sensing technologies is they provide a rapid solution to directly estimate soil contamination and monitor its health at a regional scale, allied with low cost on the long term. Remote sensing methods significantly limit physical interference to sensitive areas and therefore have many advantages, including access to areas that in situ methods cannot reach, as well as being extremely environmentally friendly and sustainable. Space data and remote sensing methods can be deployed at a national scale in an affordable way, removing the need to put staff on the ground.

To conduct the survey, EAD used soil spectral reflectance methods, coupled with calibration techniques, to predict the soil health of various areas and their properties, collecting data from three key sources.

First, spectral data was recorded via a handheld spectrometer, which carries the advantage of zero disruption to ground soil, allowing the remote sensing data to be calibrated with soil samples taken on site.

Second, and on a larger scale, a series of drone overflights were undertaken. A programmed drone was flown over marked areas several times, collecting images at different heights with sensors that captured the surveyed area. The custom-built drone was manufactured by experts in the UAE, made specifically for this project and able to carry up to 20kg of equipment.

Finally, and to garner a true bird’s-eye perspective, hyperspectral imagery over a larger area was gathered using satellites. Sensors on both the drone and satellites picked up data that wasn’t visible with the naked human eye.

The smaller areas captured by the drone were used to “ground truth” the same visible signatures picked up by satellite imagery across the whole Abu Dhabi Emirate. When put together within situ soil samples, a huge amount of data was used to create a comprehensive picture of soil health.

Further innovation came from the use of AI and Machine Learning (ML) analytical methods, which were employed to automate the correlation of remotely sensed data with ‘field data’. The amount of collated field data is voluminous and interpreting it is highly complex, with very small changes in the physical environment providing potential indicators of soil health anomalies.

Using AI technology means that the model will increase in accuracy and efficiency over time, enabling EAD to access rapid, relevant results for immediate, targeted intervention. These methods can also be applied to historical data to fill existing data gaps which could not be filled by traditional survey methods.

The benefits of this approach are manifold. It can produce data with confident levels of accuracy across large areas; this enables EAD to effectively identify critical areas in order to prioritise remediation deployment and conservation resources appropriately. It also introduces significant cost savings when it comes to conducting analysis of soil contamination.

Any issues or contamination patterns found during the survey can be quickly identified, and this newfound intelligence will be used to create and develop new regulations, evidence-based frameworks, and policies, mitigating any negative effects and providing a facilitating a proactive approach on soil quality protection and management.

This innovative service is expected to progress from pilot phase to be fully deployed by the end of 2023. The approach has been designed with repeatability in mind, meaning that these methods will be used to create a monitoring programme to continually monitor and detect change in the soil quality of Abu Dhabi. The operationalisation stage will revolutionise and increase our knowledge of soil health, particularly in fragile ecosystems such as Abu Dhabi.

The process also has wider implications for EAD’s work across the Abu Dhabi Emirate. Although the current application of this methodology is to monitor the health and quality of soil, once proven successful, this technology can also be used to monitor other assets, such as the marine environment, water quality and air quality, providing a holistic picture to the Agency that can be used to formulate integrated framework of policies and regulations to safeguard our environment well into the future.

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