International Arcliives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXII Part 7C2, UNISPACE III, Vienna, 1999 
162 
UNISPACE III — ISPRS/NASA Seminar on 
I5PR5 
“Environment and Remote Sensing for Sustainable De\>elopment” 
9:00 am -12:00 pm, 23 July 1999, VIC Room A 
Vienna, Austria 
both with typical problems as related to environmental 
protection mentioned in section in 2.3. 
4.1.1. Varna region. The Varna region covers a territory with a 
radius 100 km and lias as the centre the town of Varna, located at 
tire north-eastern Bulgaria. It is defined by a combination of 
largely urbanised areas including settlements of medium size like 
the town of Varna (300.000 population) with a developed 
industrial zone, and the town of Devnia (with a chemical 
processing and machine building industry, large thermal 
electrical power plant and a harbour complex), and recreation 
complexes and the two bioreserves Baltata and Longoza. 
Recently the problem of landslides along the coastal line lias 
become specifically critical because of the damage caused to 
buildings and to the infrastructure (roads, water and electrical 
supply lines). 
Preliminary preparation and results 
For the preliminary preparation data were used on the 
anthropological hnpact on the vegetation in the area mentioned, 
carried out by a staff from the Environmental Protection Chair of 
Sofia University. Satellite imagery covering the Varna area 
respectively dming the months of August 1992 and 1995 was 
used for the purpose. The interpretation was done with the help 
of a specialised package for remote sensing and the following 
results w'ere obtained: 
- Inventory and separation of natural and artificial vegetation 
associations in the area; 
- Estimation of damaged vegetation (after NDVI values) due to 
strong anthropogenic impact (fig.5); 
- Investigation of vegetation density, vitality and photosynthetic 
activity; 
- Estimation of reflectance signatures of damaged and healthy 
vegetation and their comparison; 
- Estimation of water and chlorophyll content of damaged 
vegetation (based on channels 3, 4 and 5 of Landsat-TM) and a 
comparison of the results obtained with healthy vegetation 
characteristics; 
- Measurement of temperature differences between vegetation 
situated nearby industrial areas and vegetation situated at a 
distance of such areas. 
4.1.2 Panagiurishte -Pirdop region. This region, located in the 
central part of the country', includes areas of the Central Balkan 
range and of the Western Sredna Gora Mountains. It is defined 
by die presence of a medium population density' (with towns of 
about 20,000 inhabitants) and by a developed mining and 
processing industry 7 . The largest open mines of copper are to be 
found in this area namely the MOK “Asarel-Medet“ near 
Panagiurishte (MOK “Elasite") as well as the biggest copper ore 
concentration plant of the Belgium “Union Miniere” company in 
the town of Pirdop. 
Due to the present economic stagnation a part only of the 
enterprises are still in action, others are closed and still others are 
in a process of closing, which represents the main problem 
related to the estimation of the impact of these enterprises on the 
environment. 
Preliminary preparation and results 
The main activities here were performed from the laboratory' on 
remote sensing applications in geology of the Geology and Ore 
Exploration chair of the Mining Geological University of Sofia. 
It included an additional information acquisition, processing and 
analysis using satellite imagery' from Landsat-TM. 
The preliminary 7 analysis of Landsat (fig. 6) and SPOT images, 
which are largely used in practice, shows that their information is 
suitable for studies on larger regional geological and ecological 
problems. The Landsat image on the Panagiurishte ore area, for 
example, identifies the main linear and ring fault structures, but 
faults of low'er rank, individual volcanic structures, rocks 
modified by hydrothermal processes, etc. may not be identified. 
The lower resolution of those satellite systems and the limited 
number of broad spectral channels make them inadequate for 
studies of smaller local objects. In this sense the purpose of the 
development of the Bulgarian combined modular optical- 
electronic system is not to replace the traditional information 
sources in the field of remote sensing, but to enrich w'ith 
additional and much more detailed information the investigation 
of regional and in particular of local objects and problems. Thus, 
for example, the traditional information obtained from the 
mentioned satellite systems permits the study of a given ore area 
and to a certain extent of the ore field, while the fully developed 
new air-based combined modular system would permit a detailed 
geological study of a site and even of a part of a site. This will 
help to achieve a better economic estimate of the natural 
resources in a given site, of an agricultural area or of a forest 
area, etc. Such a degree of details w'ould provide for the correct 
analysis and for the solution of local ecological problems, like 
the determination and monitoring of the type and source of 
pollution around given mining enterprises or other industrial 
objects.