Application of CASI Hyperspectral Image to Analysis of the Distribution of Hydrogen-Fluoride-Damaged Vegetation in Gumi, Korea

On the night of 27th Sept 2012, a hydrogen fluoride (HF) storage tank exploded in the industrial area of Gumi, Korea. In this study, an attempt was made to detect the damaged vegetation using a hyperspectral image. Assuming that HF was the most significant stressor of vegetation near the blast site, our results indicated that the difference in reflectance values between the 786 and 801 nm wavelengths became negative (−) and fluctuated from −5 to −160 in the affected vegetation. On the other hand, positive (+) values were found in the non-affected vegetation. The combination of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and simple ratio (SR) was used [named combined vegetation index (CVI) in this study] to assess the accuracy of these measurements. Among 150,965 pixels that were defined as damaged vegetation, about 2.8 % were analyzed incorrectly in this study. As a result, factors such as wind direction, distance from the accident spot, elevation, and aspect were shown to affect damage distribution.