Name: Pre-Purchase Land Environmental Risk Screening
Brand: Zolena Lab Inc.
Price: 800 CAD

Product Overview

What the Satellite Sees That the Listing Won't Tell You

A land listing shows you the price, the zoning, and the photographs the seller chooses to share. It does not show you what the satellite has recorded over the past ten years: vegetation decline patterns, surface disturbance zones, proximity to industrial emission sources, wildfire history, or flood exposure.

The Zolena Lab Pre-Purchase Land Environmental Risk Screening report uses Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and public environmental databases to produce an independent environmental risk profile of a land parcel — before you bid.

The Lite Edition answers: is there anything obviously wrong? The Pro Edition answers: where exactly could problems arise, and how significant are they?

Five-Layer Analysis Framework

What We Analyze

Layer 01

Current Environmental State

Weight: 50%

Most recent Sentinel-2 RGB, NDVI, and SWIR analysis. Current surface condition, land use, visible disturbance, subsurface moisture anomalies.

Layer 02

Historical Change Trajectory

Weight: 30%

10-year NDVI time series (2015–2025). RGB change comparison. NDVI change heatmap identifying vegetation loss zones and their spatial distribution.

Layer 03

Surrounding Pressure Scan

Included in Layer 01 weight

500-metre buffer (Lite) or 5–20km watershed (Pro). Industrial proximity, transport corridors, surface water flow direction, upstream contamination pathways.

Layer 04

Climate and Hazard History

Included in Layer 01 weight

NASA FIRMS wildfire (10-year, 20km radius). JRC Global Surface Water flood history. Copernicus C3S drought cycles and freeze-thaw frequency.

Pro Edition adds a fifth dimension: 50-Year Climate Risk Projection (C3S, CanESM, IPCC AR6 regional projections for 2030, 2040, 2050).

Zolena Land Risk Score™

Risk Grade and Investment Recommendation Framework

Every report produces a composite Zolena Land Risk Score, expressed as a risk grade (L1 through L4) and an investment recommendation grade (A through D). This framework translates satellite data into language that land buyers, legal due diligence teams, and investment committees can act on.

Risk Grade	Description	Investment Grade	Recommended Action
L1	Low Risk — No significant environmental signals detected	A	Proceed with standard due diligence
L2	Medium-Low Risk — Minor signals present, likely explainable	B	Proceed after targeted due diligence on identified signals
L3	Medium Risk — Meaningful signals requiring formal investigation	B/C	Commission formal environmental site assessment before bidding
L4	High Risk — Significant environmental signals detected	D	Defer purchase pending full investigation and risk quantification

The scoring weight is: current environmental state (50%), historical change trajectory (30%), and future climate trend (20%, Pro Edition only). This weighting reflects that the current state of the land is the most critical factor for immediate purchase decisions.

Three Editions

Lite · Pro · Enterprise

Lite Edition

CAD $800

48-hour delivery

· Current environmental state (RGB, NDVI, SWIR)
· 10-year historical NDVI trajectory
· 500m surrounding pressure scan
· Wildfire and flood history
· Risk Grade L1–L4
· Investment Grade A–D
· One-line action recommendation

Pro Edition · Recommended

CAD $2,500

5–7 business days

· All Lite content
· Full upstream watershed scan (5–20km)
· Public contaminated sites registry check
· 50-year climate risk projection
· Full decision-support narrative
· Legal due diligence file ready

Enterprise Edition

CAD $10,000+

1–3 months

· All Pro content
· On-site sensor deployment
· Hydrogeological assessment
· Historical title and liability review
· Custom reporting and consultation

Case Study

Sample Report: Prairie Gateway Land, Rocky View County

We have published a full case study for a 100-acre industrial reserve parcel in Rocky View County, Alberta. The satellite screening identified a 7.5% NDVI decline between 2020 and 2024, concentrated in a 24-acre western disturbance zone consistent with construction activity. Composite Risk Grade: L2 Medium-Low. Investment Grade: B.

Read the full Prairie Gateway case study →

View the full sample report →

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the minimum parcel size for this service?

Sentinel-2 has a 10-metre spatial resolution, making it most effective for parcels larger than approximately 10 hectares (25 acres). The sweet spot for this service is 25 to 250 acres — the typical range for high-value commercial and industrial land parcels. For smaller parcels, we can discuss supplementary higher-resolution data sources. For very large parcels (over 1,000 acres), we combine Sentinel-2 with Landsat for extended historical coverage back to the 1980s.

Does this replace a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment?

No. This service is a preliminary satellite-based screening tool — it does not constitute a Phase I or Phase II ESA as defined under ASTM E1527 or Canadian Standards Association Z768. Think of it as a desktop screening step that happens before you decide whether a formal Phase I is warranted. If our screening identifies L3 or L4 risk signals, that is a strong signal to commission a Phase I before bidding. If our screening shows L1 or L2, you can proceed with more confidence and potentially avoid the cost of a Phase I on parcels that don't warrant it.

How do you handle parcels in high-latitude locations with seasonal snow cover?

Parcels in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and other high-latitude Canadian provinces require careful handling of seasonal snow cover. We apply an NDSI (Normalized Difference Snow Index) snow mask to all imagery, filtering out snow-covered pixels. All analysis is restricted to the May through September growing season window, and all year-over-year comparisons are made on a same-season basis — summer to summer — to eliminate phenological variation. This protocol is standard in our Alberta parcels and documented in the methodology appendix of every report.

Can you screen land parcels outside Canada?

Yes. Sentinel-2 covers the entire Earth surface. We can produce land risk screening reports for parcels in any country where Copernicus satellite coverage is available and where public climate and hazard databases (NASA FIRMS, JRC, C3S) have data. We have operational experience with parcels in Canada and China, and can extend to other geographies on request. International parcels may have different data availability for the contaminated sites registry check component (which relies on country-specific public databases).

How quickly can I get a Lite report?

48 hours from the time we receive your parcel coordinates and order confirmation. This assumes satellite imagery is available for the location and time period (cloud-free imagery during the growing season). In rare cases where cloud cover has been persistent over a specific location, we may need additional time to identify a usable image — we will notify you immediately if this applies to your parcel.

What information do I need to provide?

We need: (1) the parcel location — an address, GPS coordinates, or bounding box coordinates; (2) the approximate parcel area; and (3) your preferred analysis period (we default to the most recent available growing season). For Pro and Enterprise editions, we may request additional context about the intended land use and any known site history. We handle all satellite data acquisition, analysis, and report production from there.