Searching for the relationship between the temperature and humidity of tailings material by processing digital photographs of laboratory experiments and color models

Relevance. Tailings beach surface dries and deflates, which intensifies the dusting process, results in ecosystems disruption on the adjacent territories, and adversely impacts health of population. The use of digital photographs, including those obtained with the help of unmanned aerial vehicles, seems to be promising in terms of reagents application simplification and dusting minimization. Research objective is to determine the quantitative relationship between the temperature and humidity of tailings materials by analyzing the digital photographs of laboratory experiments using RGB and Lab methods. Methods of research. Standard equipment was used to perform a laboratory experiment to determine the temperature and humidity of tailing dump surface layer samples. Digital photographs were taken in natural light and UV light. At the first stage, the images were processed to obtain the values of the components of two color models, RGB (redness and saturation indices were calculated) and Lab (the color difference index was calculated, two standards of black and white were used). At the second stage, as a “zero” approximation, the simplest (linear) analytical dependence between temperature and humidity was studied. Results and analysis. The coefficients of calculated linear dependences are compared with the corresponding coefficients of direct experimental data processing. It is shown that in natural light: the smallest deviations for the dependence of temperature on humidity correspond to the redness index in the RGB method and the black standard in the Lab method; the smallest deviations for the dependence of humidity on temperature correspond to the saturation index in the RGB method and the black standard in the Lab method. It is shown that in UV light: the smallest deviations for the dependence of temperature on humidity correspond to the saturation index in the RGB method and the black standard in the Lab method; the smallest deviations of the dependence of humidity on temperature correspond to the redness index in the RGB method and the white standard in the Lab method. Conclusions and scope. The mentioned indices and colors of standards can be recommended when processing similar laboratory experiments and natural studies directly on the dusting site.