663 
DETECTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT CAUSED BYLANDFILL GAS 
Helen Jones 
Dr. W G Collins 
Dr T R E Chidley 
Aston University 
Birmingham, Great Britain 
ISPRS Commission VII 
ABSTRACT 
The two main problems associated with the production and migration of landfill gas ( a mixture of 
methane, carbon dioxide, oxygen, nitrogen and other trace gases) are: 
1. the risk of explosion when the concentrations of methane are between 5 and 15%. 
2. damage to crops and trees on, or adjacent to, completed sites. 
The aim of this research is to relate vegetation health to landfill gas concentration, the eventual goal 
being the detection of landfill gas migration due to its effect on vegetation. If a correlation can be 
established then remote sensing may present a cost-effective method of identifying and locating gas 
migration. 
Landfill gas-induced vegetation stress is apparent as chlorosis, reduction in height, reduction in cover 
percent and, in severe cases, death of the plant. It should be possible to relate these symptoms to 
relectance measurements as recorded by remote sensing instruments. To this end the following were 
obtained; gas, plant and soil parameters; two dates of ATM data; and one date of aerial video data. 
The results to date suggest that under certain conditions remote sensing may provide a useful and timely 
method for detecting landfill gas migration, the main prerequisites being: 
1. Sufficient concentrations of gas to have an adverse effect on plant growth. 
2. Relatively homogeneous ground cover. Variations in soil type, agricultural practice, etc., 
may result in 
differences in vegetation health that are unrelated to landfill gas. 
ATM data may yield additional information due to the recording of data in the middle inrared. 
However, due to the cost of collection and processing of data, its use is unlikely ever to be justifiable in 
a practical situation. More realistic In terms of cost is the airborne video system; additional advantages 
being the lower cost of processing, better resolution and increased convenience of data collection. 
Key Words: Landfill gas, vegetation damage, video remote sensing, aerial photography, multispectral 
scanning.