Context and objectives
The Antwerp port area is the home of the largest petrochemical complex in Europe and worldwide second only to Houston, Texas. However, Antwerp produces a much wider variety of chemical products, leaving even Houston behind it. Thermal Imaging Spectroscopy (TIS) has the potential of providing new and unique way of detecting pollutants, mapping trace elements and retrieving surface temperature. TIS sensor differs from the FTIR and LIDAR in that it operates in the passive mode. Thermal hyperspectral detectors do not require an infrared beam generator or reflecting optics to reflect the beam to the receiver. TIR imaging spectroscopy for pollutant detection is found to be more useful than VIS-SWIR spectroscopy since the thermal background corresponds strongly with temperature and therefore valuable in the endmember decomposition, in which a quantity rather than a probability is of interest. The objective of this project is to detect the presence and the concentration of polluted gas compounds in the atmosphere using AHS-160 MWIR and LWIR imaging spectroscopy data that will be acquired over the chemical industry area of Antwerp port.
Project outcome
Expected scientific results
This valuable hyperspectral data set will give the ability to produce change detection mapping of the gas pollutant concentrations in this industry-urban area. The data will be calibrated and verified using numerous ground truth measurements that will be collected using field thermal imaging reflectometer (SOC 400T) and traditional in-situ measurements collected in AQMSs in the region of interest. Specifically the project will produce:
Concentration map of the gas pollutants (SO2, NO, NO2, O3, PM10) registered via geographical information systems (GIS).
Change detection of the previous pollutant concentrations