The Role of SPOT Satellite Images in Mapping Air Pollution Caused by Cement Factories

Environmental analysis and monitoring of pollution are important tasks in Egypt and all over the world. In this study, temporal SPOT satellite multispectral images were used for locating the horizontal dispersion of air pollution caused by a cement factory that was constructed near Assiut City in Egypt. Two different working conditions of the factory were analyzed. In the first one (1995), with average production rate 8341 Ton/day, the dust emission from the factory was not properly controlled, while in the second one (1998), with average production rate 10577 Ton/day, the factory applied optimum control on dust emission due to the constrains of the environmental lows which are taking place in Egypt nowadays. The techniques of image interpretation, unsupervised classification, and image thresholding were used. This approach allowed us to map the source of pollution and its aerial extent and to identify different degrees of contamination intensities under the different working conditions. This study proved that multispectral SPOT images can be used as a global tool for locating and monitoring air pollution phenomena caused by uncontrolled industrial pollution.