A new algorithm for the detection of plumes caused by industrial accidents, based on NOAA/AVHRR imagery

摘要

The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on board the NOAA satellites may be used for detecting plumes caused by industrial accidents through the combined use of the visible (0.58-0.68 μm), near infrared (0.72-1.10 μm) and thermal infrared (11.5-12.5 μm) channels of the AVHRR. In this study a model algorithm is developed to identify pixels which correspond to plumes caused by industrial accidents. The novelty of the algorithm is that it combines the visible, the near infrared and the thermal infrared AVHRR channels in order to produce a two-dimensional feature space image in which the plumes can be detected and monitored. The algorithm was evaluated for four industrial accidents: in Enschede, the Netherlands on 13 May 2000; in Genoa, Italy on 13 April 1991; in Lyon, France on 2 June 1987 and in Kalohori, Greece on 24 February 1986. The effectiveness and reliability of the algorithm was found to be satisfactory in all case studies.