Comparison of CASI-2 and VIS-SWIR hyperspectral sensor capabilities for detection and characterisation of vegetation anomalies associated with buried gas pipelines Airborne hyperspectral imaging offers a potential solution for operational monitoring of soil disturbance associated with the instatement and remediation of land adjacent to a buried gas pipeline. However, suitable methodologies have yet to be developed to reliably detect vegetation stress associated with buried pipeline soil disturbance, due to constraints imposed by the available sensors on spatial resolution, signal to noise ratio, bandwidth, and spectral range. This project will compare the performance of the new hyperspectral sensor with CASI-2 for detection and characterisation of vegetation stress associated with a buried gas pipeline in Aberdeenshire, for which CASI & ATM data were acquired in 2004. Laboratory spectroscopy experiments from previous studies have established that VIS-NIR techniques based on the red-edge cannot reliably distinguish stress caused by gas from waterlogging effects. SWIR sensors have the potential to detect vegetation stress on the basis of absorption and reflectance features, but airborne experiments have established that the spatial resolution achievable with HyMAP may not be sufficient. A generic methodology for detection of vegetation stress associated with buried pipeline soil disturbance will be developed, utilising the improved capabilities of the new sensor, integrating identified stress indicator absorption and reflectance features from the full VIS-SWIR range. Data processing will be carried out by an EPSRC CASE PhD student, supported by Shell International Exploration and Production (SIEP).