CONTAMINE · PROJECT INFORMATION
Data and methods
Different sources answer different questions. CONTAMINE is being designed to keep the origin and date of information visible, together with the limits needed to interpret it.
This website uses explanatory illustrations and describes a planned approach. It does not publish live monitoring data or site-specific analytical results.
Satellite observations describe particular surface characteristics or changes. Field measurements and specialist reports provide other kinds of evidence. Community observations record what someone noticed. These sources should remain distinguishable even when they appear in one record.
Water extent and visible change
The planned optical-image work draws on Copernicus Sentinel-2. Water-area estimates, including those derived from NDWI, depend on image quality, spatial resolution, the selected threshold and surface conditions.
Water extent is not water quality. A visible colour or spectral change does not, on its own, identify a contaminant or measure its concentration. An unchanged water surface is not evidence of safe drinking water.
Radar and ground movement
The project is exploring the potential of suitable Sentinel-1 radar data. A change in radar backscatter is not automatically ground displacement.
InSAR displacement analysis would require its own suitable data, processing and quality assessment. A line-of-sight measurement would not be a complete structural or embankment-safety assessment. This website does not claim that an operational InSAR service has been implemented.
Vegetation and land recovery
Changes in vegetation and exposed ground can add context to available rehabilitation records. Season, weather, management and image conditions also influence the observations.
Vegetation change is not by itself proof of ecological recovery or the absence of contamination. No available measurement or no detected change must not be read as a finding of safety.
Measurements and external findings
A sample result relates to its location, time, measured parameters and method. Conditions elsewhere or at another time may differ. Establishing a cause, legal responsibility or compliance needs additional context.
External findings would be attributed to their source and stated scope. Hosting or summarising a report would not mean that CONTAMINE performed the investigation or independently verified all its conclusions. Read summaries alongside the underlying source and its limitations.
References to mine-waste resource recovery concern available assessments, not confirmed recoverable reserves or a recovery service.
Interpreting thresholds
Any displayed comparison with a legal threshold would need to identify the applicable medium, units, purpose and source of that threshold, with qualified interpretation.
A surface-water observation must not casually be compared with drinking-water limits or treated as proof of an offence. This website provides no automated compliance determination.
What a useful source record includes
The intended record would distinguish the observation or sample date from the processing or publication date. It would also identify the source, method, units, quality limitations and relevant version. Missing information or uncertainty should be shown rather than replaced with an invented confidence score.
Sources, permissions and illustrations
Future analytical products would need a source and licence record, including the required Copernicus acknowledgement for derived Sentinel material. Permission to use Sentinel data does not automatically cover other imagery, basemaps, reports or databases.
The landscape and stream images on this website are illustrations, not satellite-derived findings. No confidential third-party report or field dataset is published here.
Copernicus Data Space terms and source information.
See How observations work for the planned distinction between an observation, publication, referral and documented response.