Results & Imagery

Overview: The Sespe Oil Field (cluster of blue points on the upper right) is approximately 7 miles North of the city of Fillmore, CA. Several of these well sites have been drilled as recently as 2011. The Ojai Field (cluster of blue points on the upper left) are located approximately 7 miles east of the city of Ojai, CA and on the coast near Rincon Point.  Drawing information from the California Department of Conservation well shapefile,  we found exactly 100 fractured well sites in the Ojai field, with their spud date ranging from 1971-1989.  The spud date of a well is regarded as the time when the setting of conductor pipe commences or when the initial casing string begins. There are exactly 304 fractured well sites in the Sespe Field with spud dates ranging from 1966 to 1989, and five newly fractured sites in 2011.  

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and change Detections:

*In these NDVI change detection of Ojai and Fillmore, green represents areas of little to no change in vegetation over time, while purple represents areas of high negative change in vegetation.  Greater vegetation changes have occurred between 2009 and 2011 than between 1994 and 2009, correlating with a spike in fracking since 2011 in Ventura County.

  

Thermal Imagery and Change Detection:

 

*The thermal change detection analysis from 1994-2012 possesses limited accuracy due to temperature fluctuations daily.  The results of the NDVI change detection are more accurate due to vegetation rates generally remaining stable throughout the years unless manipulated by external factors.  Nevertheless, there is a correlation between the well site location and higher rates of thermal change for Ojai and Fillmore between the years of 2009 and 2012.  The red areas found in the change detection imagery indicates a relatively higher thermal change between the two years.  Vice versa, the blue areas represent comparatively little to no change in terms of heat.

Google Earth 3D Imagery with Geocoded Well Sites: