Use of GIS to study the effect of air pollutants on the vegetation cover
Paper Details
Use of GIS to study the effect of air pollutants on the vegetation cover
Abstract
The present study was performed to inspect the effect of pollutant gases on the vegetation cover around Safaniya Power Plant using GIS (Geographic Information System) and remote sensing technologies. The concentrations of various gases such as CO2, CH4, ethane and nitrogen were determined at ground level around Safaniya Power Plant. These pollutant gases were estimated around distance of 1500 meters from the power plant stack. The changes in vegetation cover were monitored during the period of 1990 and 2016 using satellite images of Landsat-7 and Landsat-8. The Landsat-8 image acquired in 2016was used to estimate normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). The data indicated that the vegetation cover in the study area is highly degraded specially at south and southwest of Safaniya Power Plant. A high correlation between the distance from the stack and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values (r2= 0.597) was observed. In general, the vegetation cover is highly degraded around Safaniya Power Plant due to release of pollutant gases. Thus, it is revealed that there is required a great efforts for environmental protection and conservation of the habitat of the area.
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