Fire analysis using Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-5P data: Oil pipeline explosion near Strymba Village

Abstract

Oil pipeline explosions pose a serious threat to environmental safety. The relevance of this study lies in examining the consequences of such incidents and their impact on the environment. The aim of the research was to assess the scale of the fire and the degree of air pollution by nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide following the pipeline explosion. The research methods included the analysis of satellite images using the normalized difference vegetation index, the normalized burn ratio, and the differenced normalized burn ratio, followed by the detection of burned areas using the thresholding method. The application of advanced Earth remote sensing methods, such as data from the Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-5P satellites, allowed for the analysis of the consequences of the oil pipeline explosion and the subsequent fire that occurred on 30.09.2023, near the Strymba Village in the Nadvirna District of Ivano-Frankivsk Region. Additionally, an analysis of harmful substance emissions into the air, obtained from the Sentinel-5P satellite, was conducted, followed by visualisation using the Python programming language and statistical analysis. The results obtained include the calculation of the fire area, which is approximately 2.5 ha, and the detection of elevated levels of nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide above the norm following the fire. Methods for converting concentration units obtained from satellite observations to ground-level concentrations were used. The validation of the obtained results with surface measurements confirms the study’s findings regarding nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide pollution. After the fire, concentrations ranged from 0.46 to 0.58 ml/m³ for nitrogen dioxide and 9.86 ml/m³ for carbon monoxide. These research results are important for identifying small fires resulting from pipeline explosions and for the practical understanding of the specifics of harmful substance emissions during such fires