Application of Multispectral LANDSAT Space Imaging for the Evaluation of Radionuclide-Contaminated Sites in the Russian Zone of the Chernobyl Disaster on the Example of Kaluga and Bryansk Oblasts

Abstract

The possibility of differentiating between clean and heavily contaminated sites of the “field” and “forest” types is assessed according to the results of processing radiometric survey materials for 137Cs and 90Sr and the data of the Landsat multispectral space survey (1977–2011) for the Kaluga and Bryansk oblasts of Russia. The radiation index inferred from the ratio of the luminance characteristics for Landsat satellite channels 1 and 4 is proposed for the assessment of the radiation situation.