MERIS Full Resolution data for mapping level‐of‐damage caused by forest fires: the Valencia de Alcántara event in August 2003

Abstract

This paper concerns an estimation of burned area and fire severity levels in the area affected by the Valencia de Alcántara forest fire, an event that took place near the border between Portugal and Spain in August 2003. ‘Level‐of‐damage’ and ‘fire severity’ are both defined as the impact of fire on the vegetation. The study presented herein uses satellite information from Envisat‐MERIS (Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) and SPOT5‐HRG (Système pour l'observation de la Terre – High Resolution Geometric instrument), ground data and ancillary maps. The methodology consisted of applying linear unmixing algorithms on a post‐fire MERIS image, using a post‐fire SPOT5‐HRG image and ground data for endmember definition. Satellite‐derived level‐of‐damage information is used for affected area estimation and for comparison with fire severity ground measurements. Satellite‐derived level‐of‐damage is also compared with information from the Spanish National Forest Map (NFM) to assess to what extent fire severity is related to particular forest types. Results reached so far reveal that MERIS estimations on wildfire damage over forested areas may help in establishing degrees of affection, which is useful to plan forest restoration works.

Acknowledgments

The present work was made possible by the support of the ESA through an approved Category‐1 project for the use of ENVISAT data entitled ‘An assessment on the potential of Spanish forests as carbon sinks using remote sensing techniques’. This work was also possible thanks to an agreement between the Spanish Ministry of the Environment and the INIA – Spanish Ministry of Education and Science.