Application of Vegetation Indices Derived From IRS Data for Detecting the Avicennia Forest Area Near the South Pars Oil Apparatus

Changes in the detection of the mangrove area in Niband Bay adjacent to the South Pars industrial complexes by satellite imaging over different time periods can be a suitable indictor for assessment of possible environmental damage caused by the extensive activities of the aforementioned industry. Environmental damage from industrial activities, particularly with regard to the oil industry, has been inevitable ever since the industrial revolution. The importance of damage which often undermines the positive economic impacts of these industries has drawn attention to the use of different effective techniques for reducing the damage, such as analyzing satellite data since the 1960s. Hence, this paper attempts to investigate the mangrove area by using IRS data (in 2008) and analyzing them with ILWIS package. For this purpose, multi-bands color images 2, 3, 4 have been used for mapping the mangroves and identifying their location. GPS is used for ground veracity. The aim of this research is to consider the application of satellite data (IRS) along with the vegetation index for assessing themangrove areas and for measuring the possible environmental damage caused by the above mentioned industry. The results show the application of vegetation indices, particularly those in IRS4/IIRS3, within the other four indices used for mapping the mangrove in this research. Mangrove areas measured in this research show considerable differences in comparison with those found in previous research studies.