As well-known, in the night of August 24 of this year in the North of the Crimea there was an emission of toxic chemicals from the acid storage tank of the Crimean Titan plant. The accident led to a significant deterioration of the ecological situation not only in the Crimea, but also in part of the Kherson region.

The situation due to this chemical emission was analyzed by Scientific Centre for Aerospace Research of the Earth scientists using multispectral images obtained by the Sentinel-2 spacecraft belonging to the European Space Agency.

For analyzing the area of the Crimean Titan plant there was selected six multispectral images which have been formed during from August 20 to September 9, 2018, that is, before and after the appearance of pollution. Using these images, the so-called water index MDNWI was calculated and the moisture within the acid storage tank of the Crimean Titan plant was analyzed (Figure 1).

The analysis showed that the Northern part of the acid storage tank was not enough wet before the time of contamination (August 20 and 23), and tendency for it to dry out was observed. A dry space began to grow from August 25. From this day and until the end of the study period, zones of low moisture content and heightened temperature on the rest of the acid storage tank area are observed.

Thus, results of space information analysis confirm the version of experts-ecologists that the most probability cause of emission of toxic chemicals is abnormal state of the plant’s acid storage tank due to dry and hot weather and also of water lack.

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