Environmental Surveillance from Satellites

History

Before 1974 nature was fresh and beautiful on the border between Russia and Norway. In the summertime the brush and trees were intensely green and the white-yellow lichen, much favoured by the reindeer, covered the ground like a delicate carpet.

However, the Arctic ecosystem is vulnerable. People near the border will tell you that the vegetation cover has deteriorated over the last 20 years. Beyond a doubt this is due to air pollution emanating from industry situated on the Kola peninsula. Nickel processing in Nikel, Zapolyarnij, and Monchegorsk is the main contributor to the environmental problem. But do we know how much damage has been done to the ecosystem? What are the critical loads of pollution that nature can cope with? Can the damage ever be repaired? These and many other questions related to environmental mapping and monitoring, are the concern of the scientists at NORUT Information Technology (NORUT IT).

Recently NORUT IT has completed a research project concerning the air pollution impact on the natural environment. The study area covers 10 000 km2, comprising Kirkenes-Petsjenga and parts of Finland. In order to maintain environmental surveillance over such an extensive area, a combination of satellite data and ground measurements were used. The main objective of the project was to assess the feasibility of using optical remote sensing (Landsat MSS data and Landsat TM data) for mapping changes in the vegetation cover due to air pollution from 1973 to 1988. Satellite data from 1973, -79, -85 and -88 were used to produce vegetation maps as well as change detection maps and statistics. One of the main discoveries was that the area with lichen dominated vegetation, the light yellow areas on the maps, had decreased by an alarming 85% in 15 years. Desert-like conditions, i.e. bare rock, eroded heath and damaged areas, had increased more than five times in the same period. Comparison of the vegetation cover maps and the change detection maps with the emission levels of SO2 shows a strong correlation between damaged lichen cover and the dramatic increase of the emissions after 1973. The area damaged or seriously affected by air pollution increased 14 times, from 55 to 760 km2, and the area clearly affected increased by a factor of 13, from 400 km2 in 1973 to more than 5000 km2 in 1988.

The study by NORUT IT has shown that remote sensing data is a very effective source of information in large scale environmental monitoring. Vegetation types which are known to be sensitive to air pollution have been recognized from the satellite data. Ground truth data has been used for calibration and verification of the satellite data. The total extent of the pollution impact on vegetation may be calculated with sufficient accuracy. A time sequence of satellite scenes from 1973 until 1988 shows how conditions have developed over time. The correlation between ecosystem load limit for SO2 and our observations is very good. From a scientific point of view we may thus conclude that the feasibility study has been a success. On the other hand, we have produced an objective and, indeed, very alarming documentation of air pollution effects. The facts are that the environment has been destroyed faster and in larger areas than previously conceived. This must be a serious challenge to the political authorities in Norway, Finland and Russia.

Vegetation cover maps over the Kirkenes Pechenga area

FIGURE 1. Map 1 - 1973 FIGURE 2. Map 2 - 1979

FIGURE 3. Map 3 -1985 FIGURE 4. map 4 -1988

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Legend:

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Light blue     Fjords, lakes, rivers

Violet         Bare rock, damaged area

Blue-green     Pine forest

Orange         Heather woodland

Green          Blueberry birch forest

Light green    Heather birch forest

Light yellow   Lichen

Brown          Dwarf shrub

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The Story of Nikel

The Pechenganikel Company was established in 1933 by Finnish and Canadian interests. The factory was taken over by the Soviet Union in 1944. Except for some years during the Second World War production has been stable, and before 1973 the emission of SO2 never exceeded 100 000 tons per year. In this period they used indigenous nickel with only 6.5% sulphur content. The pollution seemed to have only a local effect on the vegetation cover. After 1974 the factories began to get nickel from the Norilsk ores in Siberia with a very high sulphur content (up to 30%). As a result, the emissions of SO2 and heavy metals such as copper and nickel increased rapidly in the years to follow. 204 000 tons of SO2 was emitted in 1973, 400 000 tons was the highest in 1979, followed by a decrease to 273 000 tons in 1990. The emissions from the Nikel and Zapolyarnij chimneys are immense by any standard, for instance the total SO2 outlet in Norway was 46 000 tons in 1991.

FIGURE 5. Sulphur dioxide in 1000 tons FIGURE 6. Lichen areas and SO2 emission

Pollution impact maps

A pollution impact map for the study area has been developed on the basis of the vegetation maps. It shows 6 zones of varying pollution impact, from the heavily polluted and destroyed areas around Nikel and Zapolyarnij in Russia to the Gardsjøen lake in Norway with no visible damage on vegetation. Heavy metal analysis of lichen in the same areas confirm the results recorded by Landsat. Samples of nickel concentrations in lichen show an increase of more than 30 times in the most affected area. The study shows a total environmental deterioration covering 750 km2 in the Norwegian and Russian border area caused by air pollution (Zone 1 and 2). As a consequence the bio-diversity has decreased dramatically close to Nikel/Zapolyarnij. In addition air pollution has caused extensive damage to vegetation in an area of 2000 km2, mostly affecting Empetrum-Lichen heaths and Lichen and Empetrum dominated birch and pine forests (Zone 3). Intermediate and beginning damage to the lichen vegetation was observed in an area of 1900 km2 (Zone 4). In an area of 770 km2, only episodic and minor damage were observed (Zone 5). In the remaining area no damage caused by air pollution could be observed (Zone 6). The study shows that the critical loads of air pollution are exceeded for the Lichen-Empetrum heath and the Lichen-Empetrum dominated birch and pine forests in Zone 1, 2 and 3.

FIGURE 7. Pollution impact map

Publications and Contacts

Toemmervik, H.., B. E. Johansen and A. Eira, "Mapping the air pollution impact on the reindeer pastures in the area of Kirkenes, Northern Norway, using satellite remote sensing methods.", NORUT-report, Tromsø (in Norvegian), 1989.

Toemmervik, H.., B. E. Johansen, J. P. Pedersen, "Mapping the air pollution impact on the natural environment in the border area of Norway/USSR using satellite remote sensing methods.", IGARS'91, Remote sensing: Global Monitoring for Earth Management . International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Vol. 1, pp 45-48, Finland, 1991.

Toemmervik, H.., B. E. Johansen, J. P. Pedersen, "Use of multitemporal Landsat image data for mapping the effects of air pollution on vegetation in the Kirkenes-Pechenga area in the period 1973-1988.", NORUT report 2024/1-92, 32 pages, Tromsø, 1992.

Toemmervik, H.., B. E. Johansen, I. Meland, "Kartlegging og overvåkning av naturmiljøet i Sør-Varanger ved hjelp av fjernmåling og feltundersøkelser", NORUT-report, 69 pages, Tromsø, 1994.

Toemmervik, H.., B. E. Johansen, J. P. Pedersen, " Monitoring the effects of air pollution on terrestial ecosystems in Varanger (Norway) and Nikel-Pechenga (Russia) using remote sensing.", The Science of the Total Environment, In print, , Elsevier Pub., New York, fall 1994.

For more information please contact:

Hans Tømmervik

NORUT IT AS                    hans.tommervik@itek.norut.no

N-9005 Tromsø                  Phone +47 77 62 94 00

Norway                         Fax   +47 77 62 94 01