EXTRACTION OF DAMAGED AREAS OF FALLEN TREES 
BY TYPHOONS USING LANDSAT TM DATA 
Yukio Mukai Izumi Hasegawa 
Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan 
1-9-9,Roppngi,Minatoku, Tokyo 106,Japan 
Commission y ‚Working Group 3 
KEY WORDS : Forestry, Vegetation,Classification,Extraction, Registration,Landsat, Multitemporal 
ABSTRACT : 
Two typhoons attacked successively at intervals of about two weeks the north part of Kyushu located in the south west of 
Japan in Sep. 1991. Forestry have been very active in this area from old and many trees especially in artificial plantations 
(main tree species are cedar and cypress) were fallen by the typhoons. Two Landsat TM data taken before and after the 
typhoons were collected and registered in order to extract the damaged areas. Several damaged points for each group of 
heavy and slight damage were selected on the registered image referring the aerial photographs taken immediately after 
the typhoons ,and the change characteristics of TM bands 1~5,7and Vegetation Index (VI) for the heavy,slight and no 
damage cases were examined. It showed the characteristics that bands 1~5,7 increase whereas VI decreases due to the 
damage. Band 5 and 7 of middle infrared region showed more increase than other bands. A registered images of band 5,7 
and VI of two temporal data before and after the damage was generated, and the damaged areas were extracted by a 
maximum likelihood classification method using the registered image. The damaged areas extracted by Landsat TM data 
were evaluated using the aerial photographs and data on the damage surveyed by a Local Development Office. It was 
found that Landsat TM data were effective to extract damaged areas of fallen trees by the typhoons for a broad region. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
Two typhoons attacked successively the north part of 
Kyushu on Sep. 14 and 27 ,1991 and they caused severe 
damages for agriculture and forestry. The forestry have 
been very active from old in this region and there are many 
artificial plantations where coniferous trees such as cedar 
or cypress were mainly planted,and those coniferous trees 
suffered severe damages from the typhoons. Fig.1 shows a 
view of the damage of fallen trees by the typhoons. Takao 
already extracted the damaged areas by the typhoons for 
the same area using MOS-1 MESSR data acquired before 
and after the typhoons,and reported that MESSR band 2 is 
effective to extract the damaged areas [1] . This study used Fig. 1. A view of the damage of fallen trees by 
Landsat TM data and it was found that middle infrared bands the typhoons. 
  
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International Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXI, Part B7. Vienna 1996