Chernobyl Revisited Changes 23 years after 

the Chernobyl Nuclear DisasterShu Tao

Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

Chernobyl exclusion zone(original and present day)

Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant

Forest

Pripyat

Images ： Landsat 5

1986/04/29

Subset

Cloud MaskBand Math: Reflectance >0.19, Brightness temperature <282

1985/04/26 1986/04/29 2009/04/29

1985/04/26 RGB-321 1986/04/29 RGB-321

1985/04/26Before the Disaster

1986/04/293 Days Post Disaster

Brightness Temperature

Cooling Pond

NuclearPower Plant

NDVI1986/04/29 2009/04/29

NDVI ChangeRed   –   1986Green – 2009

• Mean NDVI• 1986 0.196473• 2009 0.212662

Supervised Classification

Maximum Likelihood (Supervised & Cleaned)

1986/04/29 2009/04/29

Class Change Statistics

Constructions -> 55%-> WetlandsBright vegetation -> 72% -> Bare Soil

Class Change - ConiferousRed   –   1986Green – 2009

Cooling Pond

Nuclear Power Plant Pripyat

Conclusions

• 1) Landsat5 helped to confirm the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster

• 2) Urban area keeps strikingly similar

• 3) Forest area is generally expanding but with

deforestation in some area

Thanks!

Questions?