7th Workshop on Forest Fire Management - EARSeL, European ...

DAILY MONITORING OF PRE-FIRE VEGETATION CONDITIONS USING
SATELLITE MODIS DATA: THE EXPERIENCE OF FIRE-SAT IN
THE BASILICATA REGION
Abstract: This paper presents the results obtained in the context of FIRE-
SAT project focused on the use of satellite data for pre-operational monitoring
of fire susceptibility in the Basilicata Region.
The use of satellite data was manyfold, to obtain: (i) fuel property (type
and loading) map, (ii) fuel moisture estimation, (iii) fire danger/susceptibility
indices using both fuel properties and fuel moisture. Results obtained
during the first year project (2008) suggest that the MODIS-based model
identified areas at higher fire susceptibility. In particular, the integration
of the fuel type/model with daily fuel moisture and Greenness maps into a
single, integrated model allow us to properly monitor spatial and temporal
variations of fire susceptibility.
1 - Introduction
A. Lanorte 1 , R. Lasaponara 1 , R. Coluzzi 1 ,
G. Basile 2 , G. Loperte 2 , F. Antonucci 2
1 CNR-IMAA, Tito Scalo (PZ), Italy
a.lanorte@imaa.cnr.it
2 Regione Basilicata - Dip. Infrastrutture, Italy
In the recent years, the Basilicata Region has been characterized by an
increasing incidence of fire disturbance which also tends to affect protected
(Regional and national parks) and natural vegetated areas. FIRE-SAT
project has been funded by the Civil Protection of the Basilicata Region in
order to set up a low cost methodology for fire danger/risk monitoring
based on Earth Observation techniques.
To this aim, NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)
data were used. The spectral capability coupled with the daily availability
makes MODIS products especially suitable for estimating fuel moisture variations
and assessing fire danger.
Landsat TM images were also used for mapping fuel types and loading. Fuel
moisture, Fuel properties, and Fire danger maps obtained for the investigated
area were compared with forest fire catalogue of 2008 year.
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