Development and analysis of a 12-year daily 1-km forest fire dataset across North America from NOAA/AVHRR data

Fires in boreal and temperate forests play a significant role in the global carbon cycle. While forest fires in North America (NA) have been surveyed extensively by U.S. and Canadian forest services, most fire records are limited to seasonal statistics without information on temporal evolution and spatial expansion. Such dynamic information is crucial for modeling fire emissions. Using the daily Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data archived from 1989 to 2000, an extensive and consistent fire product was developed across the entire NA forest regions on a daily basis at 1-km resolution. The product was generated following data calibration, geo-referencing, and the application of an active fire detection algorithm and a burned area mapping algorithm. The spatial-temporal variation of forest fire in NA is analyzed in terms of (1) annual and monthly patterns of fire occurrences in different eco-domains, (2) the influence of topographic factors (elevation zones, aspect classes, and slope classes), and (3) major forest types and eco-regions in NA. It was found that 1) among the 12 years analyzed, 1989 and 1995 were the most severe fire years in NA; 2) the majority of burning occurred during June-July and in low elevation zones (< 500 m) with gentle slopes (< 10°), except in the dry eco-domain where more fires occurred in higher elevation zones (> 2000 m); 3) most fires occurred in the polar eco-domain, sub-arctic eco-division, and in the taiga ( boreal forests), forest-tundras and open woodlands eco-provinces in the boreal forests of Canada. The tendency for multiple burns to occur increases with elevation and slope until about 2500 m elevation and 24° slope, and decreases therefore. In comparison with ground observations, the omission and commission errors are on the order of 20%.     

Active forest fire monitoring in Uttaranchal State,India using multi‐temporal DMSP‐OLS and MODIS data

This paper gives an account of day–night active forest fire monitoring conducted over the sub‐tropical and moist temperate forests of the Uttaranchal State, India, during 2005 using the Defence Meteorological Satellite Program – Operational Line Scan system (DMSP‐OLS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite data. The state experienced heavy fire episodes during May–June 2005 and daily datasets of DMSP‐OLS (night‐time) and selected cloud‐free MODIS (daytime) datasets were used in mapping active fire locations. DMSP‐OLS collects data in visible (0.5 to 0.9 µm) and thermal (10.5 to 12.5 µm) bands and detects dim sources of lighting on the earth's surface, including fires. The enhanced fire algorithm for active fire detection (version 4) was used in deriving fire products from MODIS datasets. Fire locations derived from DMSP‐OLS and MODIS data were validated with limited ground data from forest department and media reports. Results of the study indicated that the state experienced heavy fire episodes, most of them occurring during night‐time rather than daytime. Validation of satellite‐derived fires with ground data showed a high degree of spatial correlation.     

国家级森林火险等级预报方法研究

对国家级森林火险等级的定量化预报方法进行了探讨,即:利用MODIS数据反演获得可燃物状态指数;将通过网络获得的全国气象数据和建立的可燃物类型分布、森林火险区划等基础数据库,在ArcGIS平台上数量化后计算背景综合指数,由这两者计算获得火险指数,以火险指数为国家级森林火险等级预报的量化指标,并利用它进行全国森林火险等级的分级,从而实现了全国森林火险等级从定性描述到定量估测。同时,以近几年我国发生的重特大森林火灾为例,对该方法进行了验证。实验表明:该方法可较好地对国家级森林火险等级进行定量化预报。     

森林场景可视化和林火模拟仿真技术研究综述

森林是生态环境系统的重要组成部分。随着气候变暖,恶劣气候气象条件造成全球森林火灾频繁发生,给国民经济和消防救援带来巨大挑战,森林火灾已成为全球主要的自然灾害。因此,森林场景可视化建模、3维场景仿真、林火模拟仿真、火场复现、预测和灾害评估成为林业虚拟仿真研究热点。本文对树木形态结构建模技术、森林场景大规模重建和实时渲染、森林场景可视化、林火模型和林火模拟仿真等前沿技术和算法进行综述。对相关的林木、植被的形态结构表达和真实感可视化建模方法进行归纳分类,并对不同可视化方法的算法优劣、复杂度、实时渲染效率和适用场景进行讨论。基于规则的林木建模方法和基于林分特征的真实场景重建方法对大规模森林场景重建技术进行分类,基于物理模型、经验模型和半经验模型对森林火灾的林火模型、单木林火、多木林火模拟和蔓延进行总结,对影响林火蔓延的不同环境气象因子（如地形地貌、湿度、可燃物等）和森林分布对林火发生、扩散和蔓延的影响进行分析,对不同算法的优劣进行对比、分析和讨论,对森林场景可视化和林火模拟仿真技术未来的发展方向、存在问题和挑战进行展望。本文为基于森林真实场景的森林火灾模拟仿真和数字孪生沉浸式互动模拟系统的构建提供了理论方法基础,该平台可以实现森林场景快速构建、不同火源林火模拟、火场蔓延模拟仿真以及不同气象影响条件的火场预测,可对森林火场救援指挥、火场灾害评估和火场复原提供可视化决策支持。     

基于ENVISAT-MERIS数据的过火区制图方法研究

森林或草原在发生火灾后,过火区内的植被层在近红外波段的反射率通常要比健康植被低,利用光学遥感数据的近红外波段和红光波段可以探测出植被层的反射率在大气上界的明显变化。对过火区域的提取是利用卫星数据进行测算森林或草原火灾过火面积的关键技术之一。根据实验区内近年来发生的多次重特大森林或草原火灾,在对ENVISAT\|MERIS数据中典型地物光谱特征进行分析的基础上,分别采用图像处理方法、植被指数法和面向对象的图像分析方法对过火区制图方法进行对比研究。研究结果表明,通过面向对象的图像分析方法获得的过火区域,可以较好地适用于过火区面积的估测,该方法是一项实现定量提取过火区域的行之有效的方法。     

Detection of annual burned forest area using change metrics constructed from MODIS data in Manitoba,Canada

The monitoring of annual burned forest area is commonly used to evaluate forest fire carbon release and forest recovery and can provide information on the evolution of carbon sources and sinks. In this work, a new method for mapping annual burned area using four types of change metrics constructed from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data for Manitoba, Canada, was developed for the 2003–2007 period. The proposed method included the following steps: (1) four types of change metrics constructed from MODIS composite data; (2) Stochastic Gradient Boosting algorithm; and (3) two thresholds to ascertain the final burned area map. Fire-event records from the Canadian National Fire Database (CNFDB) for Manitoba were used to train and validate the proposed algorithm. The predicted burned area was within 91.8% of the CNFDB results for all of the study years. The results indicate that the presented metrics could retain spectral information necessary to discriminate between burned and unburned forests while reducing the effects of clouds and other noise typically present in single-date imagery. A visual comparison to Thematic Mapper (TM) images further revealed that in some areas the mapping provided improvement to the CNFDB data set.     

EOS-MODIS 数据林火识别算法的验证和改进

EOS-MODIS 数据在森林火情监测中的应用研究日益受到世界各国的重视。为了获得适用于中国不同地区森林火情监测的成熟技术, 很有必要对现有MODIS 数据林火监测理论算法进行验证分析, 探讨其在中国不同地域和季节中使用时的通用性。为此, 利用中国境内9 起森林火灾事件对MODIS 数据火点识别的理论算法进行验证分析。结果显示9 起森林火灾有8 起被有效检测到, 1 起森林火情被遗漏。通过对9 起森林火点及其邻近像元的统计分析, 发现如下两个重要规则:利用火点亮温偏离统计均值3 倍标准差的关系来确定阈值, 可以避免火点的遗漏; 林火点在CH21和CH22 上的亮温值一般有CH21- CH22< 20 K, 而噪声点在两个波段上的差异却比较大。用以上规则改进的MODIS 林火热点识别算法可以检测出用来验证的全部9 起林火事件, 从而证明了改进算法的有效性和通用性。     

Creating a forest fire database for the Far East of Asia using NOAA/AVHRR observation

This study proposed a method for burned area accounting that uses data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) onboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite series. As an area of interest, the boreal forest zone located in the Far East region of Asia was used. The burn scar mapping algorithm consists of two parts. The first is a multi‐channel threshold algorithm used for detection of real‐time burning spots in the boreal environment. The second part uses an abrupt change‐detection technique in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in an 18‐year NDVI time series. Both parts of the algorithm are connected together in a complementary manner, and a forest burn scar mask is obtained for each month and consequently for each year from 1984 to 2001. The validation of the dataset was performed using data from the literature, forestry management organizations and the Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM). The comparison between those validation data and our forest fire dataset shows a satisfactory level of agreement. If the forest fire history is required for other regions in the boreal zone, the proposed methodology could be extended to that region given that a sufficient data archive is available.     

AVHRR-based mapping of fires in Russia: New products for fire management and carbon cycle studies

A new database of fire activity in Russia derived from 1-km resolution remote sensing imagery is presented and discussed. The procedure used to generate this burned-area product is described, including active-fire detection and burn-scar mapping approaches. Fire detection makes use of a probabilistic procedure using image data from the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) system. Using the combination of AVHRR data collected at the Krasnoyarsk, Russia, high-resolution picture transmission (HRPT) receiving station, and data from the NOAA Satellite Active Archive (SAA), fire maps are being created for all of Russia for 1995 to 1997 and all of Eastern Russia (east of the Ural Mountains) for 1995 to 2002. This mapping effort has resulted in the most complete set of historic fire maps available for Russia. An initial validation indicates that the burned-area estimates are conservative because the approaches do not detect smaller fires, and, in many cases, fire areas are slightly underestimated. Analyses using the fire database showed that an average of 7.7×10⁶ ha yr⁻¹ of fire occurred in Eastern Russia between 1996 and 2002 and that fire was widely dispersed in different regions. The satellite-based burned-area estimates area were two to five times greater than those contained in official government burned-area statistics. The data show that there is significant interannual variability in area burned, ranging between a low of 1.5×10⁶ ha in 1997 to a high of 12.1×10⁶ ha in 2002. Seasonal patterns of fire are similar to patterns seen in the North American boreal region, with large-fire seasons experiencing more late-season burning (in August and September) than during low-fire years. There was a distinct zonal distribution of fires in Russia; 65% of the area burned occurred in the taiga zone, which includes southern, middle, and northern taiga subzones, 20% in the steppe and forest steppe zones, 12% in the mixed forest zone, and 3% in the tundra and forest-tundra zones. Lands classified as forest experienced 55% of all burned area, while crops and pastures, swamps and bogs, and grass and shrubs land cover categories experienced 13% to 15% each. Finally, the utility of the products is discussed in the context of fire management and carbon cycling.     

基于北斗和GPS的森林防火人员调度指挥系统

森林防火人员监控调度指挥系统是根据森林防火人员调度指挥工作的实际需要,设计并实现的基于北斗定位导航技术、GPS、GIS的软硬化一体平台。系统实现的功能主要有:人员实时定位、重点区域或人员监控、巡护人员与系统互通信、人员历史路径查询、人员巡山防火执勤工作量统计等。该系统构筑了森林巡护工作的信息服务网络,加强了森林巡护工作的落实,并为科学地应急指挥调度提供决策支持。     

TM验证MODIS过火面积产品精度分析——以黑龙江省重大森林火灾为例

鉴于准确估测森林的过火面积对森林火灾的损失评估和过火区植被的恢复所具有的重要作用,选取了2006年～2010年黑龙江省51个重大森林火灾记录,分别利用MODIS的MOD14A2（Terra）火产品数据和TM遥感影像数据估算过火面积,并利用Kappa指数分析过火面积在数量和空间位置上的一致性。结果表明：在单个火场尺度上,小于3.72km2的森林火灾不适于利用MOD14A2产品来估算过火面积,而年过火总面积的相对误差小于15%。MOD14A2火产品可以有效地估测年度尺度上森林的过火面积;数量Kappa指数明显大于位置Kappa指数和标准Kappa指数,位置Kappa指数较低,这可能是由于MODIS数据的空间分辨率较低、林火记录坐标位置不够准确等原因造成的,有待进一步研究。     

DMSP-OLS estimation of tropical forest area impacted by surface fires in Roraima,Brazil: 1995 versus 1998

A procedure has been developed to locate and estimate the area of heavy forest burning based on the frequency of DMSP-OLS (US Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Operational Linescan System) fire detection from time series of observations across the fire season. A calibration was developed for Roraima, Brazil, using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data acquired near the end of the 1998 burn season and analysed to identify unburnt, partially burnt and heavily burnt forest areas. A fire detection frequency threshold of five nights was used to map heavily burnt forest using the 3 months of DMSP-OLS observations. The threshold of five fire detections, which could occur anytime during the 3-month time period, was selected to constrain errors of commission involving unburnt forest to 10% of the total area for unburnt forest in the calibration area. At this threshold setting the DMSP-OLS estimate of heavily burnt forest area covered 79% of the Landsat measured area. It was found that 77% of the 1998 heavily burnt forest area was outside of the state's protected areas (national parks, reserves, indigenous areas). Two of the protected areas sustained a substantial increase in heavily burnt forest in 1998 relative to 1995 (Reserva Biologica Mucaja and Parque Ind gena Yanomami). The 1998 forest burning in these two areas was concentrated in their eastern-most sections. The core of the Yanomami area did not sustain extensive burning in 1998. Protected areas in the north-eastern section of the state, where forests are mixed with cerrado, had moderate increases in heavily burnt forest in 1998. Other protected areas were largely free of the heavy forest burning, which was concentrated to the west of the state's primary cerrado zone.     

Mapping burned areas in Mediterranean countries using spectral mixture analysis from a uni‐temporal perspective

The main aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of spectral mixture analysis (SMA) for mapping forest areas burned by fires in the Mediterranean area using low and medium spatial resolution satellite sensor data. A methodology requiring only one single post‐fire image was used to carry out the study (uni‐temporal techniques). This methodology is based on the contextual classification of the fraction images obtained after applying SMA to the original post‐fire image. The results showed that the proposed method, using only one image acquired post‐fire, could accurately identify the burned surface area (Kappa coefficient>0.8). The spatial resolution of the satellite images had practically no influence on the accuracy of the burned area estimate but did affect the possibility of detecting areas inside the perimeter of the burned area which were only slightly damaged.     

Satellite-based forest fire detection for fire control in boreal forests

Forest fires in large sparsely populated areas in the boreal forest zone are difficult to detect by ground based means. Satellites can be a viable source of information to augment air-borne reconnaissance. The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) sensor aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites has been used to detect and map fires in the past mainly in the tropics and mainly for environmental monitoring purposes. This article describes real-time forest fire detection where the aim is to inform local fire authorities on the fire. The fire detection is based on the 3.7 mu m channel of the NOAA AVHRR sensor. In the fire detection algorithm, imaging geometry is taken into account in addition to the data from the near-infrared and thermal infrared channels. In an experiment in summer 1995, 16 fires were detected in Finland. One was a forest fire, 11 were prescribed burnings and 4 false alarms. Three of the false alarms were due to steel factories. We conclude that satellite-based fire detection for fire control is feasible in the boreal forest zone if the continuous supply of frequent middle-infrared data can be guaranteed in the future.     

多源时序国产卫星影像的森林火灾动态监测

四川省木里县及周边林区是全国林火最为高发和易发区之一,近两年连续发生了扑火人员重大伤亡的事件。利用时序国产卫星影像、无人机影像和现场勘查数据等,从监测火灾蔓延时空过程的角度,对该区林火热点进行了动态监测,并分析了重点火场火灾发展过程,结果表明：以国产GF-4卫星影像为主,辅助以2 m/8 m光学卫星星座影像,可较好地监测林火热点;研究提出林火热点判定阈值为白天亮温值T≥360 K或夜间亮温值T≥330 K;监测发现了该区3月30日至4月6日间共6处火场的25次林火事件,并重点反演了①号木里和②号西昌火灾发展的时空过程。通过将卫星监测热点与现场勘查热点、无人机影像解译热点对比,表明在火灾早期和中期卫星林火热点监测精度可达89%。建议利用时序国产多源卫星影像对该区林火进行持续监测,并结合权威部门现场勘查数据适时发布预警信息,避免造成重大生命财产损失。     

A web based DSS for the management of floods and wildfires (FLIRE) in urban and periurban areas

The FLIRE DSS is a web-based Decision Support System for the combined forest and flood risk management and planning. State of the art tools and models have been used in order to enable Civil Protection agencies and local stakeholders to take advantage of web based DSS with no need of local complex infrastructure and maintenance. Civil protection agencies can predict the behavior of a fire event using real time data and in that way to plan its efficient elimination. Also, they can implement “what-if” scenarios for areas prone to fire and thus develop plans for forest fire management. Flood services include flood maps and flood-related warnings; these become available to relevant authorities for visualization and further analysis on a daily basis. Real time weather data from ground stations provide the necessary inputs for the calculation of the fire model in real time and a high resolution weather forecast grid support flood modeling and “what-if” scenarios for the fire modeling. The innovations of the FLIRE DSS are the use of common Earth Observation (EO) data as the backbone of the system to produce data for the support of fire and flood models, the common use of weather related information, the distributed architecture of the system and the web-based access of it with no need for installation of dedicated software. All these can be accessed by all means of computer sources like PC, laptop, Smartphone and tablet either by normal network connection or by using 3G and 4G cellular network. The latter is important for the accessibility of the FLIRE DSS during firefighting or rescue operations during flood events. FLIRE DSS can be easily transferred to other areas with similar characteristics due to its robust architecture and its flexibility.     

Forest fire analysis with remote sensing data

Forest fires cause major damage to the environment, human health and property, and endanger life. Fires can be monitored and analysed over large areas in a timely and cost-effective manner by using satellite sensor imagery in combination with spatial analysis as provided by Geographical Information Systems (GIS). In this study, the forest area damage caused by a large fire which occurred in the Marmaris, province of Mugla in July 1996 was analysed using satellite sensor images. Digital image processing methods, such as spectral profile analysis, vegetation indices and multispectral classification, were applied to the satellite sensor images acquired before and after the forest fire. Besides the conventional maximum likelihood classification algorithm, a multilayer feed-forward neural network architecture was also used for comparison and evaluation of its effectiveness. A GIS database was constructed from the raster (satellite sensor data), vector (the forest type and topographical maps) and ancillary data (meteorological data). The GIS is being used to develop an information and decision support system to monitor and predict forest fire activity, and to enhance fire management efficiency. This study highlights the deficiencies in the current approach to fire management and emphasizes the need for an improved method along the lines outlined.     

Regionally adaptable dNBR-based algorithm for burned area mapping from MODIS data

Recent advances in instrument design have led to considerable improvements in wildfire mapping at regional and global scales. Global and regional active fire and burned area products are currently available from various satellite sensors. While only global products can provide consistent assessments of fire activity at the global, hemispherical or continental scales, the efficiency of their performance differs in various ecosystems. The available regional products are hard-coded to the specifics of a given ecosystem (e.g. boreal forest) and their mapping accuracy drops dramatically outside the intended area. We present a regionally adaptable semi-automated approach to mapping burned area using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data. This is a flexible remote sensing/GIS-based algorithm which allows for easy modification of algorithm parameterization to adapt it to the regional specifics of fire occurrence in the biome or region of interest. The algorithm is based on Normalized Burned Ratio differencing (dNBR) and therefore retains the variability of spectral response of the area affected by fire and has the potential to be used beyond binary burned/unburned mapping for the first-order characterization of fire impacts from remotely sensed data. The algorithm inputs the MODIS Surface Reflectance 8-Day Composite product (MOD09A1) and the MODIS Active Fire product (MOD14) and outputs yearly maps of burned area with dNBR values and beginning and ending dates of mapping as the attributive information. Comparison of this product with high resolution burn scar information from Landsat ETM+ imagery and fire perimeter data shows high levels of accuracy in reporting burned area across different ecosystems. We evaluated algorithm performance in boreal forests of Central Siberia, Mediterranean-type ecosystems of California, and sagebrush steppe of the Great Basin region of the US. In each ecosystem the MODIS burned area estimates were within 15% of the estimates produced by the high resolution base with the R² between 0.87 and 0.99. In addition, the spatial accuracy of large burn scars in the boreal forests of Central Siberia was also high with Kappa values ranging between 0.76 and 0.79.     

Forest Fires Mapping and Monitoring of current and past forest fire activity from Meteosat Second Generation Data

An operational visualization tool for forest fire events monitoring (named forest fires online/offline mapping and monitoring application, and shorthanded as FOMA) is presented. It can be used in two different modes: the near real-time mode, for the online display of actual possible and probable fires, or in retrospective mode, allowing the visualization of past forest fire occurrences. The application is based on the data obtained by the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) Active Fire Monitoring (FIR) product, obtained from the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) –2 satellite. The results of this tool, running in the online mode, are automatically uploaded to a web page, providing information about active and potential fires in near-real time. For further investigations, the retrospective mode allows access to processed information, in the Keyhole Markup Language (KML) format, regarding the history of occurrences of forest fires. The EUMETCast reception system is described, and the scientific basis of the FIR product is referenced. The operational implementation of the visualization tool is presented, and some results are shown, considering forest fire occurrences in Portugal, confirmed by the Portuguese Forestry Service.