Applications of Sentinel-2 Satellite Imagery in India & Indian Mining Industry – A Scoping Review with Bibliometric Analysis

Use of satellite imagery for various applications is being done since last 50 years. Being able to monitor large areas, the remote sensing technology offers unmatched potential for remote monitoring of the natural resources. There is a lack of scoping reviews that consolidates the status of applications of Sentinel-2 imagery in India in general and Indian Mining Sector in particular. This scoping and bibliometric review was, therefore, conducted to map the applications of the Sentinel-2 high resolution multispectral satellite imagery in India. The evidence was synthesized using the approach called as Scoping Review with Bibliometric Analysis (ScoRBA). The study was conducted on Scopus database which identified 223 documents. The documents were processed using MS Excel and VOSviewer for bibliometric analysis. The review revealed that Sentinel-2 satellite imagery has been used in India for various diverse applications including agriculture, assessment of land use land cover, forestry, mining, assessment of water quality, flood management, urban planning, disaster risk management etc. The review further established the substantial research gap due to underutilization of the freely available high-resolution Sentinel-2 imagery by the Indian Mining Sector. The review provides the answers to the three specific research questions. This research is different from earlier research as it not only synthesizes the current status of use of Sentinel-2 imagery in Indian context but also provides clear direction for future research specifically focused on mining sector.