Variability of fire‐induced changes in MODIS surface reflectance by land‐cover type in Borneo

Abstract

This study investigates fire‐induced spectral changes detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) in different land‐cover types in Borneo. Linear discriminant analysis is used to determine the most powerful band combinations among the MODIS reflective bands for discrimination between burnt and unburnt areas in each land‐cover type. The results show that the nature of fire‐induced changes is dependent on pre‐fire vegetation characteristics in this region. Bands 1 (0.64 µm), 2 (0.86 µm), and 7 (2.14 µm) are found to be the most sensitive bands in land‐cover types dominated by green vegetation, and consequently indices or combinations of indices using these three bands are potentially effective for burnt‐area detection in the majority of areas. In land‐cover types dominated by dry vegetation and soil, MODIS band 5 (1.24 µm) alone showed the greatest statistical separability and could not be significantly improved by any multiband index.

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Professor Timo Tokola from the University of Helsinki for numerous valuable comments during the study and for help in preparation of the manuscript, Lecturer Hannu Rita from the University of Helsinki for help concerning the statistical methods, and Professor Florian Siegert from the Ludwig‐Maximilians University for commenting on the study plan. In addition, the author would like to thank the Finnish Cultural Foundation for funding.