Change Detection on Natural Vegetation Cover in the Teritory of I.r. of Iran Caused by Pollution Resulted from the Kuwaiti Oil Well Fires, during the Persian Gulf War

Burning of nearly 700 Kuwaiti oil wells and storage tanks during the Persian Gulf war made a severe impact on the environment of the region by emitting about 5000 tons of smoke daily. The fall out of smoke plumes in forms of dry and wet deposition reached even to the center and north of Iran. The majority of the rich and productive rangelands in the southern parts of Iran were strongly marked by pollution to various degrees. Generally, the polluted rainfall was spread over the whole natural vegetation in 1991. Since nobody was prepared to record the impact and consequence of that environmental catastrophe, So, remotely sensed data were selected as a good information source to assess the short term effect of the pollution on the natural vegetation cover. For this study, out of various change detection techniques, spectral change analysis method with special emphasis on vegetation indices was selected. The NDVI (Normalised Difference Vegetation Index) was used for natural vegetation cover change detection in this study because of its acceptable accuracy and ability to detect the green vegetation. To a certain extent of decision, the methodology was made on the basis of availability of data, particularly the satellite images. As a result, it was found that integrated use of remotely sensed images with different resolutions also with support of available ground data and statistical analysis is reliable approach to detect the impact of environmental pollution on vegetation cover, particularly when the event is not accessible in term of time. This study showed that natural vegetation cover was significantly decreased in the areas which have been affected by pollution during the Persian Gulf war.