Monitoring Vegetation Damage Caused by the Year 2000 Miyake Island's Volcanic Eruption Using Satellite Data

Vegetation in Miyake Island was severely damaged by the 2000 Miyake Island volcano eruption. Four satellite images were analyzed for the purpose of grasping the long-term and extensive effect on vegetation of Miyake Island. The first visible vegetation damage was extinction of vegetation on the top of the mountain along with a caldera formation. During the main phases of volcanic activity occurred from July 2000 to August 2000, almost all vegetation in the Island were damaged mainly by volcanic ash. The vegetation damege was extremely severe around the crater where volcanic ash deposit was thick. On the foothill of the mountain, vegetation damage caused by volcanic ash was gradually recovered. However, vegetation damege was spreading out to the eastern and southwestern area of the mountain since autumn 2000. The main possible factor of this vegetation is volcanic gas emitted since September 2000.