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Abstract
Time series of normalized difference indices (NDIs) derived from MODIS surface reflectance data provide potentially useful information for monitoring fuel moisture content (FMC) for fire risk assessment. The visible atmospherically resistant index (VARI) and normalized difference water index (NDWI) were compared for monitoring live FMC of chaparral shrublands. Regression coefficients are encouraging given disparate spatial resolutions of ground‐based FMC measurements and MODIS‐derived NDIs. VARI exhibited greater temporal co‐variability (0.79>r 2<0.94) and spatial robustness with FMC than NDWI, even though the former is based solely on visible waveband reflectance data.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the NASA Affiliated Research Center cooperative agreement NCC13‐00002 and by San Diego State University through a sabbatical leave to Douglas Stow. Pete Scully, Thom Porter and Lynette Lydick of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection provided fuel moisture data and guidance pertaining to fuel moisture sampling protocols and fire management goals. John Dwyer of the LPDAAC facilitated MODIS data transfer. Lloyd Coulter, Casey Cody, Liang Guo and Elena Tarnavsky assisted with the downloading and processing of MODIS data. Anna Lieberman assisted with statistical analyses.