Using MODIS data to analyse post-fire vegetation recovery in Australian eucalypt forests

Abstract

Remote sensing observations provide useful spatially explicit and temporally dense information for monitoring post-fire vegetation recovery patterns over large areas. Although large fires are common in Australian eucalypt forests, research on remote sensing of post-fire vegetation recovery in this ecosystem has been limited. In this study, time series (2000–2012) of Normalised Difference Vegetation Index, Enhanced Vegetation Index and Normalised Differenced Infrared Index derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) were used to analyse post-fire vegetation recovery in eucalypt forests in Australia. The analysis focused on 11 sites which burned during 2001/02 and 2002/03 fire seasons. Results indicated that spectral recovery in Australian eucalypt forests is particularly rapid after fire as spectral indices values returned to pre-fire levels three to six years after fire. Spectral recovery was particularly rapid during the first year following fire and the influence of severity was limited to the first two years after fire.

Keywords::

• forest recovery
• Eucalypt forests
• MODIS
• fire

Acknowledgements

The authors are indebted to the two anonymous reviewers for their comments that greatly improved the quality of this work.