Assessing Vegetation Health Impacts of Air Pollution Using Medium-Resolution Satellite Data: A Case Study of Pasir Gudang, Malaysia

Abstract

Air pollution has become a common phenomenon nowadays, and people are unaware that polluted air can affect the health of vegetation. As we know, vegetation plays a crucial role in producing oxygen in the air, which helps reduce air pollution. This study was conducted in response to air pollution incidents at the Kim-Kim River in Pasir Gudang, Johor, Malaysia, in March 2019. The illegal chemical dumping that produced chemical gas in the Kim-Kim River impacted the affected areas and vegetation health. Thus, using the medium-resolution remote sensing method, the researchers were able to detect the impact of air pollution on the health of vegetation growth. Four of the vegetation indices from medium resolution multispectral bands were extracted, namely the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalised Difference Water Index (NDWI), Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI) and Atmospherically Resistant Vegetation Index (ARVI). As a result, vegetation indices from Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8, respectively, successfully demonstrate the correlation trend between vegetation health and air pollution, generating trends in vegetation health affected by air pollution.