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Monitoring of wildfires in boreal forests using large area AVHRR NDVI composite image data

Journal Article · · Ohio Journal of Science; (United States)
;  [1]; ;  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Environmental Research Inst. of Michigan, Ann Arbor (United States)
  2. Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States)
  3. Univ. of California, Davis (United States)
  4. U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Fairbanks, AK (United States)
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Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) composite image data, produced from AVHRR data collected in 1990, were evaluated for locating and mapping the areal extent of wildfires in the boreal forests of Alaska during that year. A technique was developed to map forest fire boundaries by subtracting a late-summer AVHRR NDVI image from an early summer scene. The locations and boundaries of wildfires within the interior region of Alaska were obtained from the Alaska Fire Service, and compared to the AVHRR-derived fire-boundary map. It was found that AVHRR detected 89.5% of all fires with sizes greater than 2,000ha with no false alarms and that, for most cases, the general shape of the fire boundary detected by AVHRR matched those mapped by field observers. However, the total area contained within the fire boundaries mapped by AVHRR were only 61% of those mapped by the field observers. However, the AVHRR data used in this study did not span the entire time period during which fires occurred, and it is believed the areal estimates could be improved significantly if an expanded AVHRR data set were used.

OSTI ID:
7369121
Journal Information:
Ohio Journal of Science; (United States), Journal Name: Ohio Journal of Science; (United States) Vol. 93:3; ISSN 0030-0950; ISSN OJSCA9
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290301 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Environment
Health
& Safety-- Regional & Global Environmental Aspects-- (1992-)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
BOREAL REGIONS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CLIMATIC CHANGE
FIRES
FORESTS
MAPPING
MONITORING
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
REMOTE SENSING
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
VARIATIONS