Nov 9, 2022 | Energy & Climate, Society The southern town of Nowa Ruda has Poland’s most polluted air in Poland according to the latest version of an annual ranking published by Polish Smog Alarm Nowa Ruda is among the small and medium-sized towns in the south of the country that dominate the ranking Among other poor performers are Nowy Targ (population: 33,000) and Sucha Beskidzka (10,000) There are, however, no big cities on the list. This is because in Poland – which has some of Europe’s worst air – the primary cause of the pollution is the burning of coal for home heating The places with the highest number of days in 2021 during which smog levels exceeded maximum safe levels (source: Polish Smog Alarm) Smog Alarm’s ranking takes account of three categories: annual average concentration of benzo(a)pyrene and small particulates known as PM10s – both of which have adverse health effects – and the number of days in the year during which levels of smog exceeded official safety limits Nowa Ruda had the worst results in all three categories based on the data for 2021 from the Chief Inspectorate of Environmental Protection “In all of the municipalities in the ranking the air was unbreathable for two to three months of the year,” wrote the NGO “As for the annual average concentrations of the carcinogenic benzo[a]pyrene they remained at 700-1500% of the permissible standard in all municipalities.” Poland has been rated as the EU's least green country in a new ranking The EU-funded study takes into account the state of the environment, its effects on quality of life, and efforts to address climate issues https://t.co/hKyeucSzBl — Notes from Poland đŸ‡”đŸ‡± (@notesfrompoland) November 5, 2022 the standards for permissible concentrations in Poland are higher than those recommended by the World Health Organisation the daily limit values in Poland are 20”g/m3 and 50”g/m3 respectively while the WHO sets its limits at 15”g/m3 and 45”g/m3 Aggregated data from the annual smog ranking since 2018, the first year it was available, shows that the average pollution levels in all three categories had been falling in the places included in the list, bottoming out in 2020 when Poland went into lockdown for long periods of time One of the places that has succeeded in climbing out of the ranking is KrakĂłw it was among the places with the most polluted air Around one third of homes in Poland use coal for heating. According to a 2022 report by the National Centre for Emissions Management (KOBiZE) households were responsible for 78% of PM2.5 emissions and 68% of dioxin and furan emissions Pioneering anti-smog measures improve air in one of Poland’s most polluted cities though this autumn has been unusually warm the coming winter could see even worse pollution than usual if people burn cheaper coal – or even illegal materials such as household waste – for heating “The air quality may get even worse this year as the sale of brown coal in the region has started and the penalisation of burning it has been abolished,” said Krzysztof Smolnicki of the branch of Smog Alarm that operates in Lower Silesia Poland to delay coal phaseout and open more mines amid energy crisis Main photo credit: MichaƂ Franczak / Unsplash  Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist , , The proportion of Poles saying the US has a positive influence on the world has also fallen to its lowest recorded level , , Poland has recorded the strongest rise in consumer sentiment across the EU this year , , , The stunt has also been criticised by Ukraine’s ambassador to Poland as well as politicians from Poland’s main ruling party Apr 30, 2025 | , , , That response will include “large Polish and NATO exercises in Poland” Apr 29, 2025 | , , , Those employed in Poland work on average the third-longest hours in the European Union Apr 28, 2025 | , , , , Westinghouse and Bechtel were first chosen in 2022 as partners on the 192 billion zloty ($51 billion) project please consider helping us to continue and expand it [email protected] Copyright © 2025 Notes From Poland | Design jurko studio | Code by 2sides.pl Senior Research Fellow at the Global Europe Centre ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Weronika StrzyĆŒyƄska is currently studying journalism at Goldsmiths as a Scott Trust Bursary recipient She  has written on issues immigration and Brexit for New Statesman and Prospect Agnieszka WądoƂowska is managing editor of Notes from Poland She has previously worked for Gazeta.pl and Tokfm.pl and contributed to Gazeta Wyborcza ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland and assistant professor of history at the Pedagogical University of Krakow He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications The Independent and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Stanley Bill is the founder and editor-at-large of Notes from Poland.He is also Senior Lecturer in Polish Studies and Director of the Polish Studies Programme at the University of Cambridge Stanley has spent more than ten years living in Poland He founded Notes from Poland in 2014 as a blog dedicated to personal impressions cultural analysis and political commentary He is committed to the promotion of deeper knowledge and understanding of Poland He is the Chair of the Board of the Notes from Poland Foundation ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Professor of European Studies at Oxford University ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Professor at the Institute of History of the Jagiellonian University ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Executive Director of Taube Family Foundation ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR Associate Professor at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Science ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR ARTICLES BY THIS AUTHOR By Andrea Gagliarducci is situated at the geographic center of Europe The Gate of Dawn is one of the entrance doors of the city where there is a chapel  dedicated to our  Lady of Mercy It was in that chapel that the image of Divine Mercy was exposed for the first time Not many people know that it was in Vilnius St Faustina Kowalska - the Polish nun to whom Jesus gave the work of spreading devotion to His Deivine Mercy – fulfilled the wish of Our Lord to paint the image that has become known the world over The image was exposed for the first time at the Gate of Dawn from Apr The image of Vilnius is slightly different from the picture we all got to know The famous image of the Divine Mercy is a replica by the Polish painter Adolf Hyla an ex-voto he made to thank Jesus he was still alive after the Second World War Hyla's image has some characters slightly different from the original one But spread because the original image was believed lost The story of the image of the Divine Mercy is fascinating and full of turns of events Archbishop Grusas of Vilnius says: "For a long time the Lithuanian people themselves did not know much about this picture Because of the difficult geopolitical circumstances the world has not known for a long time either of the first picture of the Divine Mercy." the painting has been in a chapel expressly dedicated to the Divine Mercy "Since the image was transferred there," Archbishop Grusas adds "more and more people are discovering and deeply understanding the Mercy of God Why was the image of the Divine Mercy painted in Vilnius Faustina joined the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Warsaw in 1926 her superiors sent her to a convent in Vilnius she was transferred to the convent in Plock She reported to him the visions and the conversations she had with Jesus She told him that Jesus had asked her to craft an image of His Divine Mercy Sopocko took her to the studio of the painter Eugeniusz Kazimierowski Kazimierowski's studio was not far from Sr She went  every day to his studio; she checked and oversaw every small detail of the painting She wanted to make sure that the picture fully matched the indications Jesus gave her Kazimierowski finished the painting in 1935 The first exposition took place at the  Gate of Dawn the painting was hung on display in the chapel It was a crucial moment: the beginning of the Divine Mercy devotion as we know it today it took place on the first Sunday after Easter the very same liturgical moment of the year that St John Paul II officially set as Divine Mercy Sunday Sopocko shared a recollection: "During the Holy Week of 1935 Sr Faustina said to me that the Lord Jesus demanded that I place the picture in the Gate of Dawn for three days where the triduum at the end of the jubilee of Redemption was to be held." "was planned on the same days as the coveted feast of Mercy Soon I learnt that the said triduum was going to be held indeed and the parish priest of the Gate of Dawn asked me to say the sermon on condition that the picture would be placed as a decoration in the window of the cloister where the picture looked impressive and attracted more attention than the picture of Our Lady." when I was at the Gate of Dawn to attend the ceremony during which the image was displayed I heard a sermon given by my confessor Father Sopocko This sermon about divine Mercy was the first of the things that Jesus had asked for so very long ago When he began to speak about the great mercy of the Lord and the rays pierced the hearts of the people gathered there Great joy filled my soul to see the grace of God." The image of the Divine Mercy stayed in Lithuania The outbreak of the Second World War battered Lithuania Soviet troops invaded the Baltic state and began the process of imposing official Atheism: shutdown of seminaries and the abolition of the State – Church agreement all came in fairly short order and in 1944 the Soviet Union occupied the country again the communist authorities decided to turn the church of St and all the decorations and furnishings of the church sold The painting remained hanging for three years on a wall of the former church of St until two women in 1951 decided the picture was not safe They bribed the custodian with a little money and a bottle of vodka and they hid it in an old cellar at a friend's house The women were eventually deported to Siberia after some years – it's not clear exactly how many - was brought to the church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius When the women were given amnesty and allowed to return from their Siberian exile they went back to Vilnius to recover the image Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz of Minsk has been among those who worked to bring back the painting to Vilnius Jozef Grasewicz began searching for the image He was a great worshiper of the Divine Mercy and a friend of Fr Jan Ellert in the church of the Holy Spirit The image was then transferred to Nowa Ruda Feliks Soroko administered the parish for a while though the people kept on going to church to pray Archbishop Kondrusiewicz also explained what happened when the Soviets turned the church into a storage facility: "In 1970 the Soviet authorities closed the church of Nowa Ruda and turned it into a warehouse All the furnishings of the church were moved to another church It seems there was not a ladder long enough to get to it." without knowing what had become of the picture Archbishop Kondrusiewicz served as vicar of the Gate of Dawn in Vilnius between 1981 and 1986 Grasewicz was in the meantime appointed parish priest of St [Fr Grasewicz] proposed to move the image of the merciful Jesus to the Gate of Dawn." The current archbishop of Minsk tells the he "gave the opinion that it was impossible to display the image in the chapel because the walls of the chapel are filled with votive offerings." Archbishop Kondrusiewicz then suggested moving the image into the church of the Holy Spirit The image was moved back to Vilnius during the night – a night in November of 1986 A replica was set to replace the image in the parish in Nowa  Ruda The image stayed in the church of the Holy Spirit until 2005 when it was moved to the church of the Holy Trinity also marks the 15th anniversary of the Divine Mercy's translation to its home in Vilnius 2020 can be considered a Year of Divine Mercy since there are many important anniversaries to be celebrated Faustina's canonization will be celebrated on Apr Faustina Kowalska entered the Congregation of the Blessed Mary of Mercy 95 years ago it will be the 115th anniversary of the birth of St The 85th anniversary of the revelation of the words of the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy will be celebrated Sept The original image of the Divine Mercy has a particularity: its face matches the face of the man of the Shroud but also with the Sudarium of Oviedo and the Holy Face in Manoppello and still they match: a miracle within a miracle one message comes through clearly: Europe will be saved only if Christ and his mercy will be at its center Your monthly donation will help our team continue reporting the truth and fidelity to Jesus Christ and his Church CNA is a service of EWTN News, Inc. Environmental Informatics and Remote Sensing Volume 12 - 2024 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2024.1305149 This article is part of the Research TopicWomen in Environmental Informatics and Remote SensingView all 8 articles Underground hard coal mining activity in southern Poland has lasted more than 200 years Among many factors related to mining and influencing the natural environment the longest-active are coal waste heaps and tailings ponds Several hundred objects are inventoried in Lower and Upper Silesia of which 109 are located in the Lower Silesian Coal Basin (LSCB) These remnants of mining activity are built of gangue and surface water pollution in the storage area emitting enormous amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and increasing their neighborhood’s air Indigenous fires occur more than 20 years after the end of the waste disposal phase The post-mining heat island (PMHI) phenomena related to thermal activity development of the post-coal mining heaps and tailings ponds our study aims to improve and develop a methodology for remote detection and monitoring of heat islands resulting from coal mining operations to track the thermal activity of heaps and tailings ponds in LSCB from mines closure to 2023 The study used open satellite data from the Landsat program to identify and track post-mining heat islands over 23 years within the former mining area and verify the results within the borders of the inventoried heaps and tailings ponds geospatial analysis on a time scale was carried out to identify post-mining hot spots The self-heating intensity index (SHII) and the air temperature thermal indicator (ATTI) were calculated for identified and confirmed objects maps of the thermal activity of selected heaps were developed the characteristics of the self-combustion phenomena were identified and the remote detection of PMHI and its monitoring methodology was developed The provided method can be used in the future to regularly monitor coal mining areas to prevent and identify hazardous hot spots and verify the maturity stage of the self-combustion processes Slupiec waste dump–view of fire fissures on the surface of the heap (credit: K By identifying and monitoring such anomalies it was the only research using satellite data to classify the thermal activity of coal waste heaps in Poland Despite the many studies described above that have been done so far and despite the availability of many sources of free remotely acquired data there is still ample room for the improvement and development of remote testing methods and the use of remote sensing and satellite imaging to identify and monitor the thermal activity of coal mine tailings ponds and waste heaps Self-combustion and spontaneous fires in post-mining facilities are not only a source of harmful gas emissions into the atmosphere they threaten public safety and the lives of those in the area or the vicinity and inexpensive method to remotely find and track thermal changes occurring in waste deposition areas of past and present coal mining is essential The specific area in this context is Lower Silesian Voivodeship and LSCB where coal mining relicts are still active and need easy and cheap methods to monitor our study addresses the need to screen large post-mining areas remotely and trace surface temperature changes to identify burning tailings ponds and dumps Our approach is dedicated to the early identification of indigenous fire hazards the goal of our research is the spatiotemporal analysis of the heat island generated by the self-ignition of coal heaps and tailings ponds to study its variability over time and climatic conditions or anthropogenic activity within the research areas our study presents a methodology for remote detection and monitoring of heat islands resulting from coal mining operations to track the thermal activity of heaps and tailings ponds in LSCB from the time of mines closure (1999) to nowadays The study first used open satellite data from the Landsat program to identify hot spots and verify the heat sources using GIS (ArcGIS Pro) tools and CORINE Land Cover data together with an inventory database of post-mining waste disposal areas The next goal was to indicate PMHI and track the LST changes within the inventoried heaps and tailings ponds over 23 years The article presents a step-by-step methodology and results for 18 post-coal-mining facilities (11 waste heaps and seven tailings ponds) As an example of the methodology utilization geospatial analysis on a time scale was carried out and maps of the thermal activity of selected heaps were developed the characteristics of the self-combustion phenomena in chosen locations were also determined by analyzing calculated indicators (SHII and ATTI) The study improved and developed a methodology for remote detection and monitoring of heat islands resulting from anthropogenic coal mining activities (Figure 1) A multi-temporal geospatial analysis was carried out using open satellite data at a selected time scale along with the development of surface temperature maps for thermally active heaps and settlements left over from coal mining spontaneous combustion phenomena were characterized and a methodology for remote detection and monitoring of spontaneous combustion processes at these sites was developed The presented method can be used in the future for regularly monitoring post-mining areas to identify dangerous hotspots and verify the advancement of spontaneous ignition processes occurring on the studied objects Methodology for post-mining heat islands (PMHI) analysis The Lower Silesian Coal Basin (LSCB), where the post-mining districts of Walbrzych and Nowa Ruda (S-W Poland–Figure 2) are located FIGURE 2. Lower Silesian coal basin compiled from the Mine Heaps Database, (2023) Geologically, the area belongs to the Intra-Sudetic Basin (northeastern part of the Bohemian Massif, the eastern part of the European Variscan Orogen). The Intra-Sudetic Basin consists of Carboniferous-Permian clastic rocks with hard-coal intercalations and basaltic/andesitic composition lavas related to post-orogenic delamination and mantle upwelling (Ulrych et al., 2004) The Paleozoic rocks are partially covered by Quaternary mainly fluvial and fluvioglacial sediments According to the regional classification of groundwater, aquifers of the Walbrzych and Nowa Ruda area are settled in the Sudetic region. They are formed in crystalline and sedimentary, Carboniferous and Permian formations, and Carboniferous and Permian volcanites (Paczynski, 1995) The 19th century was the time of the implementation of steam engines This allowed the depth of coal seams to be increased and mining took place below the adit level The impulse for the development of coal mining in the area of Nowa Ruda and Wałbrzych was the construction of a railway line from Wrocław to Wałbrzych in 1843 which greatly expanded the markets for the sale of coal The turn of the 19th and 20th centuries brought important changes in the ownership and structure of mines towards the consolidation of industrial capital, centralization of management, and concentration of coal production and sales. It increased coal production from about 500,000 tonnes in 1854 to 4,760,000 tonnes in 1900 (Piątek and Piątek, 1999) The period between World War I and World War II was a period of complete stagnation, in which the mines declined due to a lack of funds and qualified personnel. In addition, this time was marked by a high risk of gas emissions, mainly CO2, which killed more than 300 miners (Piątek and Piątek, 1977) Coal mining in the LSCB lasted continuously from 1434 to 2000. During this period, about 450 million tonnes of hard coal were extracted from the mined coal seams without exhausting the coal reserves, which were estimated at 1.2 billion tonnes (Bossowski and Ihnatowicz, 2006) According to the Polish Geological Institute - National Research Institute (PGI-NRI) (Mine Heaps Database, 2023) database, 109 heaps and nine tailings ponds accumulating coal mining waste were inventoried within the defined research area. Their current state is highly variable. For the most part, these facilities have been recultivated. However, according to Lasak and Zemska’s (2021) analysis the heap reclamation processes carried out were inadequately financed inexperience and organizational and economic chaos during the period of mine decommissioning in the LSCB It has been estimated that 20% of the heaps in the area have again experienced degradation processes and require proper reclamation due to the risk of dust emissions and a source of potential fires with gas emissions the tailings ponds have been rehabilitated to a small extent mainly due to their sale to private investors Their operation of tailings ponds is a source of secondary dust and gas emissions into the environment These facilities are located near residential areas and were interesting to our research The research uses satellite data from the Landsat system This system was selected considering the availability of open-source thermal data the large archive containing data from the desired years and months the resolution to identify the phenomenon (30 m) and the possibility of downloading Level-2 data The use of Level 2 data makes the research process faster and easier Data for the years 1999–2011 are collected by Landsat 5 TM Data from 2013 to 2023 are provided by Landsat 8-9 OLI TIRS The year 2012 was excluded from the analyses This year’s only available data was from Landsat 7 ETM+ which provides incomplete data due to the Scan Line Corrector Failure Surface Temperature product generated from the Thermal Infrared band (Band 6 for Landsat 5 Band 10 for Landsat 8–9) was used to analyze surface temperature values The Pixel Quality Assessment product (QA_PIXEL) was used to inspect present cloud coverage over the heap and tailings ponds area at the time of image acquisition The research was conducted on data covering a time range of 23 years Our goal was to analyze data in more or less equal 1-year time steps The varying months of downloaded data result from the visibility of the surveyed objects and the images with the most minor cloud cover over the objects were selected It was attempted to have all images from April where DN (Digital Number) is the pixel value of the raster 0.00341802 + 149.0 is a scale factor 273.15 is the Kelvin-Celsius conversion value Cloud masks were created for each image by applying simple reclassification to the QA_PIXEL raster Classes existing in the QA_PIXEL raster containing pixel values corresponding to the cloud cover were selected and given the ‘clouds’ class while all remaining pixels were classified as ‘no data’ and removed from the QA_PIXEL raster Created masks were verified by visually analyzing and comparing the mask with the cloud cover visible in the RGB image The mask was not applied when it contained several single and scattered pixels that were not over object boundaries The percentage of cloud cover over the entire image was calculated using ArcGIS Pro spatial analyst tools Selected pixel values and description for Landsat 5 and Landsat 8–9 The masked temperature images prepared for each year of study were clipped to the research areas. Coherent temperature ranges were defined to ensure comprehensible visualization. Temperature values were graded in a step of 5°, and symbolization was selected. Based on that, the land surface thermal activity maps were created (Supplementary Appendix SB) The above data were used for comparative analyses with the surface temperature of the study sites and an indicator calculation Air temperature from Szczawno-Zdroj station on selected measuring days compiled from the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management (2023) According to the methodology proposed in Section 2.3, 24 maps of the thermal activity of the land surface were created for two study areas, Walbrzych (1) and Nowa Ruda (2) of the LSCB as part of the tests. Supplementary Appendix SB shows one map from each year of observation between 1999 and 2023 except for 2012 when satellite data was unavailable an attempt was made to keep each year’s imagery roughly evenly timed These maps made it possible to identify heat islands The three-step approach was adapted to exclude heat island effects from factors other than post-coal-mining waste heaps and tailings ponds and identify the heat island resulting from other land cover forms − CORINE Land Cover data from the third level of detail with the following technical assumptions: land cover mapping is carried out with an accuracy corresponding to a map at a scale of 1:100000 the minimum mapping unit (MMU) is 25 ha the minimum width of linear elements is 100 m the accuracy of guiding the boundaries of individual land cover forms is 100 m the mapping of tangible changes with a minimum area of 5 ha and a width of at least 100 m visible on satellite images − Data in the form of current orthophotos was obtained from the Central Office of Geodesy and Cartography resources − Data showing the boundaries of heaps and settlements after coal mining in the study area was obtained from the National Geological Institute (Mine Heaps Database, 2023) FIGURE 4. Location of heaps and tailings ponds selected for study in the LSCB compiled from the Mine Heaps Database, (2023) and Open Street Map (2023) Objects with 70% or more cloud coverage were classified as entirely clouded Based on the modified methodology from Nádudvari et al. (2020), in the following step, the self-heating intensity index (SHII) was calculated for each object with cloud cover equal to or less than 50% and each year according to the Equation 2: where: pixel max–the highest LST [oC] within the object pixel min–the lowest LST [oC] within the object The modification was related to the use of Landsat Collection 2 Surface Temperature that is already corrected to atmospheric profiles of geopotential height, specific humidity, and air temperature extracted from Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) Model Version 5 Forward Processing Instrument Teams (FP-IT) (United States Geological Survey, 2023d) and available for less advanced satellite data users It also allows the use of daylight acquisitions To track the thermal activity and classify observed objects, we used five SHII ranges proposed by Nádudvari et al. (2020): extreme thermal activity (>7), advanced (3–7), moderate (3–1.5), initial (1.5–1), no activity (<1). Supplementary Appendix SD and Figure 9 show the SHII index calculated for the studied heaps and settling ponds from the LSCB area Moreover, we developed an air temperature thermal indicator (ATTI) characterized by differences between maximal object temperature and maximal air temperature, measured on the same day, according to the Equation 3: where: TO max–the maximal object temperature [oC] TA max–the maximal air temperature [oC] We assumed the higher ATTI, the higher the heat and GHG emission potential. Thus, we introduced five classes: extreme generator (>15.0), advanced generator (15.0–10.0), moderate generator (10.0–5.0), low generator (0.0–5.0), and inactive (<0.0). The results are presented in Supplementary Appendix SD; Figure 11 When we excluded urban heat islands and other hotspots caused by human activity (industrial we verified the remaining hot areas with mining heaps and tailings ponds database to prove the accuracy of the chosen method What was challenging was the resolution of satellite data which excluded the identification of small objects with a surface of less than one pixel equal to 900 m2 all the 18 hotspots we identified were verified as post-mining objects It proves our approach is accurate and gives a good base for fast and cheap pre-identification of objects like coal mining waste heaps and tailings ponds 16.04.2019 (B) and orthophoto map of study area No and orthophoto map (B) of study area No 2 Nowa Ruda Figure 6A shows a map of study area No. 1 Walbrzych dated 20.06.2002, where elevated temperatures can be seen at sites 1, 3, 6, 12, 14, and 15. The map was compared with an orthophoto (Figure 6B to verify land cover forms and 14 are covered entirely or partially with green areas in the form of vegetation 2 and 7 are covered with green spaces and industrial buildings Built-up areas and industrial areas exhibit more thermal activity and they can be identified as heat islands caused by former mining performance and 7 are adjacent to built-up and industrial areas which show higher thermal activity than these sites It indicates that when analyzing thermal maps of the land surface after identifying heat islands it is vital to recognize what forms of land cover there are A similar analysis was performed for study area No. 2 Nowa Ruda (Figure 7) Sites 9 and 16 are fully covered with vegetation In the vicinity of sites No 10 and 16 are green and agricultural areas with lower thermal activity and 10 are built-up and industrial areas with higher thermal activity thermal activity on 20.06.2002 was identified in objects No Having confirmed and chosen research objects, we could conduct a detailed analysis of particular sites. We started with minimal and maximal temperatures within objects (Supplementary Appendix SD) and their temporal analysis. For that, the graphs of the lowest (pixel min) and highest (pixel max) temperatures within the object were prepared (Supplementary Appendix SC) The temperatures vary between years and objects ranging from 53.95 (object 11 in 2002) to 8.82°C (object 8 in 1999) in the case of maximal and from 44.5 (object 17 in 2002) to 7.34°C (object 1 in 2011) in case of maximal temperature It was somewhat surprising that all sites’ highest maxima and minima occurred simultaneously in 2002 It led to analyzing the simultaneous temporal air temperatures at the nearest meteorological station We have concluded that the pattern of the temperature path of the objects follows the temperature curve of the air, which, in principle, is a natural and proven phenomenon (Good et al., 2017). However, we can observe several sudden changes and drops or ups of the surface temperatures not directly related to the air (e.g., objects 3–5, 17 and 18 between 2010–2011, object 13 between 2005–2006) (Supplementary Appendix SC) which could be probably caused by human activity on the waste heaps and ponds As we recognized during the social interview there were periods of different actions taken by the waste heaps owners like covering with soil mass to distinguish fires or digging to extract coal-based material to interpret the time series of thermal activity and self-heating phenomena of a particular object it is crucial to recognize the history of human activity within its borders Nevertheless, the relation of surface temperature to air temperature is evident in most cases. For example, Figure 8 shows the temperature for objects 1 and 11, with temperature increases on 20.06.2002, 22.04.2007, 20.04.2009, and 15.06.2021. The maximal temperatures of the sites occur at the same time as the maximal air temperatures measured at the Szczawno-Zdrój meteorological station (Figure 4) Graph of temperature changes for objects 1(A) and 11(B) is unique in that all the highest temperatures This temperature peak may indicate a systematic error made by the authors of the LST source maps used in the study the air temperature at this time was relatively high (33°C) and the image was taken during summertime (June) after several days of hot and sunny weather which could also influence the surface temperatures naturally air temperature is one of the most frequently measured and readily available meteorological parameters Further research was run to track the thermal activity, and the self-heating intensity index (SHII) was calculated (Nádudvari et al., 2020) (Supplementary Appendix SD) are still thermally active despite more than 20 years when waste deposition stopped What can be observed is that the thermal activity of the majority of the investigated objects was higher in the years 2002–2010 (Figure 9) when even seven objects in 2002 and 2004 were classified as extremely thermal active (SHII >7) thermal activity in both areas lowered to advanced and moderate the vast majority of the objects were still visibly active There were also several sites where SHII mostly oscillated between inactive and initial classes (e.g. The SHII index calculated for heaps and tailings ponds Among the most thermally active sites, there are classified waste heaps 1 and 2 located in the Wałbrzych area, waste heaps 10 and 11 situated in the Nowa Ruda area, and tailings ponds from Wałbrzych no 12 and 13 (Figure 10) The highest thermal activity sustained on the level of extreme and advanced we noticed in the waste heap no 10 - Piast in Nowa Ruda The waste heap Ceglana in Wałbrzych - object 8 was inactive or initially active during the observation period it was identified as a hot spot on the map in 2000 SHII frequency for heaps and tailings ponds Object surface temperature difference characterizes SHII; thus even if its temperature is relatively low (e.g. which relates to the extreme level of thermal activity would be much smaller than in case of the same difference but with higher temperatures To somehow estimate the potential of particular objects to generate harmful emissions we defined and calculated the air temperature thermal indicator ATTI values can be negative numbers when the air temperature is higher than the object’s surface temperature and heat transfer to the atmosphere is blocked ATTI index calculated for heaps and tailings ponds ATTI frequency for heaps and tailings ponds we could identify PMHIs and analyze their thermal activity over time We have indicated the most active sites that should be monitored permanently and in detail using satellite imagery supported by drone thermal monitoring and in-situ equipment as well due to the potential of heat and GHG emissions which can harm the environment and people living nearby This knowledge also gave us information on which sites should be covered by detailed investigations on the performance of measurements of pollutant emissions from heaps and tailings ponds along with chemical analysis of their composition Such studies are planned for the most active facility We demonstrated the advantages of the proposed methodology for identifying and tracking historical changes within the PMHI Based only on publicly available archival satellite imagery free air temperature data in the study area we can track thermal changes at post-mining sites and determine those still active and hazardous to apply our approach to real-time analysis and obtain more accurate values for indicators it is necessary to pay attention to some limitations of this study insolation and humidity at each object should be run Such a plan exists to implement in-situ observation and then develop the temperature correction coefficient for more accurate ATTI calculations in selected areas with the most visible PMHI effect Another limitation related to the use of historical data is that the authors could not read the air temperature precisely at the same time when the satellite passed over the research area the study is subject to some systematic error the identified thermal activity of the PMHI is noticeable in the study area in different years the research allowed us to observe the thermal activity of post-mining sites and select objects it is planned to synchronize the readings of meteo-data with satellite images One of the most critical issues for the presented research is calibrating the satellite imagery with ground temperature in situ measurements as well The authors did not have the opportunity to perform in-situ calibrating measurements for historical data conducting in-situ ground temperature measurements for satellite LST data calibration is also considered necessary for regular real-time monitoring a pilot series of measurements was already done a thermal imaging survey using low-altitude photogrammetry was carried out with a Matrice 300 platform with a FLIR XT2 camera A calibration method for LST will be developed based on the forthcoming series this limitation did not affect the goal of the manuscript which was to introduce the method that will enable PMHI identification in the areas where we do not have any other information on the ground temperature except the satellite one and to perform backward analysis of historical data Another limitation we identified is the spatial resolution and availability of satellite imagery from open-source archival collections satellite Earth observations become more accurate and frequent due to the sensors’ development and the increasing number of satellites the advantage of our method is the possibility of backward analysis and tracking the historical changes which would be impossible without remote sensing archival open data The last important factor for further research that needs to be mentioned here is GHG emission and its quantitative relation to ATTI. In the study, we did not investigate GHG’s origin and emissivity. Still, based on the analysis of other researchers (Carras et al., 2009; Engle et al., 2011; Górka et al., 2022) we can assume that thermal activity in coal-waste facilities always generates GHG emissions verifying greenhouse gas emissions based on satellite data with high spatial resolution and in situ calibration of the results is essential field studies are planned at the Nowa Ruda Slupiec heap to identify emissions of pollutants from the heap to water and atmospheric air in the context of covering the heap with a comprehensive monitoring system it is planned to develop remote methods and use data of better resolution unavailable in the open repositories the methodology developed within our research can be successfully applied as a preliminary method for remote identification of post-mining objects demonstrating thermal activity in larger areas we tested this method for the Lower Silesian Coal Basin where mining activities ceased in the late 1990s leaving behind tailings ponds and waste heaps that are still thermal active due to self-ignition and spontaneous combustion of coal wastes phenomena that have run with varying intensity over the years We confirmed that using Landsat system Level 2 data for surface temperature estimation makes the research process faster and easier It simplifies the process of hotspot identification and makes it possible for less advanced satellite data users to do so In compilation with GIS-based analysis of CORINE Land Cover data and visual analysis of orthophoto maps it was possible to separate areas of increased land surface temperature unrelated to mining activity and indicate sites that resulted in PMHI which is a novelty in the existing approach The accuracy of the proposed process of PMHI extraction was proved by verification with an existing database of postmining objects also showing the issues related to the size of the objects and resolution of satellite imagery the developed method gave accurate and reliable results for sites of size of at least one pixel equal to 900 m2 Proposed indicators, SHII (Nádudvari et al., 2020) and ATTI made it possible to classify PMHIs and run long-term thermal activity analyses may help monitor ongoing self-combustion processes in abandoned coal waste heaps and tailings ponds ATTI allows site evaluation regarding environmental hazards detailed research and the permanent monitoring of GHG and heat emission Our studies have also proven that remote sensing gives a unique opportunity to run a backward analysis and reach for historical data that are unavailable in traditional ways the developed methodology proves successful in remotely identifying and analyzing thermal activity in post-mining areas The findings contribute valuable insights for environmental monitoring and future detailed research on these objects’ heat and greenhouse gas emissions The study emphasizes the potential of remote sensing data for large-scale environmental analyses and highlights the need for continuous monitoring of PMHIs to mitigate environmental risks That is why we continue the research and development of our methodology One of the most critical issues for our ongoing study is calibrating the satellite imagery with in situ measurements (meteorological parameters and thermal imaging surveys using low-altitude photogrammetry) to work on calibration factors we aim to develop backward analysis based on historical human activity records in selected areas where the activity is well documented–together with analysis of LST with higher frequency (e.g. we will be able to implement statistical methods for the characterization of PMHI phenomena in particular sites and identify the causes of outliers/peaks what is impossible without knowledge about the reclamation works done within the observed objects Further development of thermal activity and GHG emissions indicators will also be run together with emitted GHG identification and regular monitoring The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Materials further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research The research is funded by a subsidy for 2024 from the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education granted to Politechnika Wrocławska We thank the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management in Warsaw for providing data from the Szczawno-Zdrój meteorological station The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online 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All Images By Tomasz Cuncvir I wanted to present you some of my work I did back in 2010/2011 with a similar design I have updated it since to make it a SLIT SCAN MATCHBOX PINHOLE CAMERA perhaps) 🙂 I am attaching those photos as well at the end of this email Those photographs come from my first exhibition in Nowa Ruda As far as slit scan is concerned I can’t do much more about image quality The only way to go is ISO 400 or 800 at best I am making it a whole project: Piertotum Locomotor – everything that moves boats and skiers (I live in the Alps) but it is going to take a while I should get an affair with someone from CineStill or some other film sponsor because my camera consumes the whole roll of 36mm film in 3 seconds doing slit scans The only modification to the standard matchbox pinhole camera I made is to add two razor blades to a film (matches) trace I did many of those „standard” cameras with kids in the kindergarten as a part of „science” lessons Few kids came up with the idea of cutting the traces in different forms: hearts Those heart-shaped pictures are made by my friend Magdalena Filcek an Artist Painter and a certified hot air ballon instructor The coal mining sector in Poland is mainly controlled by the State Besides coal mines associated in the Polish Mining Group (Polska Grupa GĂłrnicza) Katowice Coal Holding (Katowicki Holding Węglowy) and Jastrzębie Coal Company (Jastrzębska SpóƂka Węglowa) there are also Lublin Coal Bogdanka (Lubelski Węgiel Bogdanka) of Enea group and Tauron Mining (Tauron Wydobycie) of Tauron Group Private entities dealing with coal production include PG Silesia belonging to Czech EPH (the biggest private coal entity on Polish market) and Siltech and Eko-Plus coal mines – jointly generating less than 3 per cent of coal output in Poland Each of the mines act pursuant to the mining concession issued by the Ministry of Environment has a valid mining concession still not exercised obtained after the acquisition of the inactive DębieƄsko mine (by purchasing the plant Investors willing to build mines in Poland have no mining concessions for the time being (none of them have submitted the relevant application yet); however Those concessions allow them to explore potential deposits (mainly by means of deep earth drilling) assess them and subsequently potentially decide on applying or not for the mining concession Potential investors include the aforementioned Prairie Mining company which intends to build the Jan Karski coal mine near Lublin in the neighborhood of Bogdanka with which it has a pending court dispute concerning coal deposits The next investor interested in Polish coal is the German company HMS Bergbau which wants to construct a coal mine in Orzesze; however it would like to use part of the infrastructure of a KrupiƄski coal mine belonging to Jastrzębie Mining Company This coal mine should terminate excavation in 2017; but so far no agreement has been reached between HMS JSW and the State Treasury concerning the utilization of some of its equipment also intended to build its own coal mine near Oƛwięcim Its financial situation is very difficult and it may be soon taken over by a competitor were created by the Australian company Balamara Two projects in Jaworzno would be associated with the reactivation of the inactive Jan Kanty and Siersza coal mines but the authorities and inhabitants of Jaworzno are not very happy about it The third project is located in the Lublin region (also close to Bogdanka) and the fourth one is in Nowa Ruda in Lower Silesia Coking coal from the latter could be supplied to the Victoria coking plant sold by JSW to TF Silesia and the state agency ARP It’s located 40 km away and produces approx 400,000 tons of foundry coke per year (for its production “There is no reason why Polish coal should not continue to play a significant role which may increase Polish GDP We have capital and the know-how,” states Michael Hale new mines with significantly lower production costs offer the opportunity for Poland which may become a significant coal supplier in European markets in the coming years have recently spoken about the need to build new modern coal mines Did they also mean investment by private investors The last Polish coal mine built ‘from the scratch’ is Budryk in Ornontowice Obviously the existing coal mines have developed since then; however all those factors affected costs – mining activity is moving into deeper and deeper levels The average depth of deposits in Poland is 850 meters and complicated excavation and increasingly difficult conditions translate into costs (the problems include expenditure on air conditioning risk prevention and transport of coal to the surface) If it is assumed that some currently operating coal mines will be closed which seems unavoidable in view of the necessary restructuring of the sector it may turn out within several years that there will be a coal deficit when a surplus of approximately 10 million tons of steam coal per year is recorded the import of 10 million tons of fuel (necessary for coking plants as the production of coking coal is insufficient in Poland) certainly sounds a little strange some investors willing to build coal mines in Poland do not think of the domestic market at all but rather of the EU market The power and heat generation sectors need approx Private investors declare the intention to build new plants in Poland and to employ more than 10,000 people and supply approx Everything will depend on whether and when they will receive the concessions as the owner of the majority of the Polish coal mines is interested mainly in remedying the part of sector that it controls established in May after the acquisition of Kompania Węglowa coal mines has PLN2.4bn of the total capital injection guaranteed JSW sold a part of its assets with a total value of over PLN700m; it also received a capital injection for the extension of the coal processing plant (over PLN200m) and it is still planning to issue bonds for PLN300m All this is a part of the Poland’s government plan to save coal mines those companies can forget about building new plants although several years ago Kompania Węglowa had such plans in the Lublin region The state does not need private competition to show that it is possible to operate better and cheaper The new strategy for the hard coal mining sector for 2016-2030 is supposed to be ready by the end of the year In its draft one can read that the concession process shall be simplified and accelerated; however “The geological and mining law contains provisions related to the investor’s financial capacity; however has neither competence nor knowledge to check such an investor Today both MPs and ministers imagine that an investor willing to build a coal mine has PLN2bn on its account at the start not all costs are paid at once,” explains an interviewed representative of one of the companies intending to build a mine in Poland The fact that state-owned mines often wait for decisions for a similarly long period is a questionable consolation Recently one of PGG’s coal mines whose concession was close to expiry received a new concession just a few days before the expiry of the old one The Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Jean Asselborn, gave the main speech at this year's Literary Heights Festival (Festiwal GĂłry Literatury), which took place Thursday July 14, in KsiÄ…ĆŒ Castle,a clifftop castle in WaƂbrzych near WrocƂaw Asselborn was invited to the event by the 2019 Noble Prize Winner Olga Tokarczuk - a celebrated Polish author who hosts the event along with a poet and a literary critic The Literary Heights Festival is a literary festival founded in 2015 and takes place in the vicinity of Nowa Ruda where a lot of Tokarczuk's novels take place and where she currently lives Asselborn's speech centred on Europe in the context of global changes