skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Techniques for spatio-temporal analysis of vegetation fires in the topical belt of Africa

Conference ·
OSTI ID:395067
;  [1]; ;  [2]
  1. CNR-IRRS Telerilevamento, Milan (Italy)
  2. Commission of the European Communities, Ispra (Italy). Joint Research Centre

Biomass burning of forests and savannas is a phenomenon of continental or even global proportions, capable of causing large scale environmental changes. Satellite space observations, in particular from NOAA-AVHRR GAC data, are the only source of information allowing one to document burning patterns at regional and continental scale and over long periods of time. This paper presents some techniques, such as clustering and rose-diagram, useful in the spatial-temporal analysis of satellite derived fires maps to characterize the evolution of spatial patterns of vegetation fires at regional scale. An automatic clustering approach is presented which enables one to describe and parameterize spatial distribution of fire patterns at different scales. The problem of geographical distribution of vegetation fires with respect to some location of interest, point or line, is also considered and presented. In particular rose-diagrams are used to relate fires patterns to some reference point, as experimental sites of tropospheric chemistry measurements. Different temporal data-sets in the tropical belt of Africa, covering both Northern and Southern Hemisphere dry seasons, using these techniques were analyzed and showed very promising results when compared with data from rain chemistry studies at different sampling sites in the equatorial forest.

OSTI ID:
395067
Report Number(s):
CONF-9509371-; ISBN 0-8194-1950-8; TRN: IM9648%%144
Resource Relation:
Conference: Conference on remote sensing of the ocean and sea ice, Paris (France), 25-28 Sep 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Global process monitoring and remote sensing of the ocean and sea ice; Deering, D.W.; Gudmandsen, P. [eds.]; PB: 272 p.; Proceedings/SPIE, Volume 2586
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English