Post-wildfire assessment of vegetation regeneration in Bastrop, Texas, using Landsat imagery

Figures & data

Figure 1. Map of the study area with the burn scar and field sampling locations.

Table 1. Landsat imagery (path 27, row 39).

Period	Image date	Sensor
Prefire	28 August 2006	Landsat 5 TM
	31 August 2007	Landsat 5 TM
	20 October 2008	Landsat 5 TM
	21 September 2009	Landsat 5 TM
	23 August 2010	Landsat 5 TM
	26 August 2011	Landsat 5 TM
Postfire	29 October 2011	Landsat 5 TM
	31 August 2013	Landsat 8 LDCM
	21 October 2014	Landsat 8 LDCM

Table 2. Mean NDVI: burned plot and control plot.

Period	Image date	NDVIburned	NDVIcontrol	ΔNDVI	Percentage difference	Scaled percentage
Prefire	28 August 2006	640.6	675.9	−35.3	−5.5	−1.2
	31 August 2007	590.7	600.2	−9.5	−1.6	2.6
	20 October 2008	675.9	706.9	−31.0	−4.4	−0.3
	21 September 2009	640.0	676.0	−36.1	−5.3	−1.3
	23 August 2010	659.7	687.4	−27.7	−4.0	0.1
	26 August 2011	580.7	610.9	−30.2	−4.9	−0.9
Postfire	29 October 2011	377.2	616.3	−239.1	−38.8	−36.2
	31 August 2013	552.7	710.3	−157.5	−22.2	−18.8
	21 October 2014	597.7	749.5	−151.8	−20.3	−16.8

Figure 2. Mean NDVI for the burned and control plots and monthly precipitation totals (NOAA 2014), 2006–2014. Burned plot NDVI initially decreased by 35% following the fire, but exhibited rapid recovery levels in the ensuing years.

Figure 3. Burn severity map based on pre- and postfire dNBR classification. Heavily burned areas were most prevalent (32.6%), followed by lightly burned (28.5%), moderately burned (22.0%), and unburned/scorched areas (16.9%).

Table 3. Mean NDVI by burn severity class.

Period	Date	Unburned/scorched	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Prefire	28 August 2006	481.8	648.0	664.1	704.6
	31 August 2007	575.1	587.3	591.3	601.8
	20 October 2008	546.9	682.9	693.2	728.3
	21 September 2009	581.4	639.4	636.2	674.9
	23 August 2010	557.9	661.0	665.9	709.8
	26 August 2011	440.5	588.0	596.0	640.1
Postfire	29 October 2011	446.8	446.3	355.3	293.6
	31 August 2013	554.1	591.7	540.8	525.9
	21 October 2014	634.8	632.1	493.2	458.8

Figure 4. Mean NDVI by burn severity class, 2006–2014. Unburned/scorched and lightly burned areas demonstrated consistently positive post-wildfire NDVI gains, in contrast to moderately and heavily burned forest that lost NDVI in the third post-wildfire year.

Figure 5. Postfire change in NDVI by burn severity class, 2011–2013 and 2013–2014. NDVI growth initially favored more heavily burned areas between 2011 and 2013, but the relationship reversed in the following year.

NOAA (NOAA National Climatic Data Center). 2014. “Monthly Summaries of the Global Historical Climatology Network - Daily (GHCN-D).” Asheville, NC.

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