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

MODIS REFLECTIVE AND ACTIVE FIRE DATA FOR BURN MAPPING
IN COLOMBIA
S. Merino-de-Miguel 1
1 EUIT Forestal, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain, silvia.merino@upm.es
F. González-Alonso 2 , M. Huesca 2 , D. Armenteras 3 , S. Opazo 4
2 Remote Sensing Laboratory, CIFOR - INIA, Madrid, Spain, alonso@inia.es
3 Departamento de Biología, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia,
darmenterasp@unal.edu.co
4 Escuela de Ciencia y Tecnología Agropecuarias, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile
sergio.opazo@umag.cl
Abstract: Satellite-based strategies for burn mapping may rely on two types
of remotely sensed data: reflective images and active fires detections. The
present work uses both in a synergistic way. In particular, burn mapping is
carried out using MCD43B4 (MODIS Terra+Aqua Nadir BRDF- Adjusted
Reflectance 16-Day L3 Global 1km SIN Grid V005) post-fire datasets and
MOD14A2 and MYD14A2 hotspot products (MODIS Terra and Aqua Thermal
Anomalies 1km). Developed methodology was applied to Colombia in 2004,
an area not covered by MODIS ground antennas. Burned area as resulted
from this work was compared to two burn area products: L3JRC (Terrestrial
Ecosystem Monitoring Global Burnt Area Product) and MCD45A1 (MODIS
Terra+Aqua Burned Area Monthly Global 500m SIN Grid V005). Reached
results showed that this method would be of great interest at regional to
national scales, since it was proved to be quick, accurate and cost-effective.
1 - Introduction
Wildfires are a major source of concern not only for environmental reasons,
but also those including economy, society and human safety in many parts
of the world. Wildfire effects at a local scale alter the ecosystem functionality
and generate an important landscape impact (Pyne et al., 1996). In
addition, wildfires release a significant amount of greenhouse gases, particulates
and aerosol emissions into the atmosphere, which significantly
increases the anthropogenic CO 2 emissions (Levine, 1991).
The use of remote sensing data provides temporal and spatial coverage of
biomass burning without costly and intense fieldwork. The resulting information
is suitable for its integration into a GIS which allows the storage
and processing of large volumes of spatial data. Remote sensing techniques
have been used for a wide variety of tasks including burned area estimation
(Chuvieco et al., 2008). At regional to global scales, the detection of
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