An intercomparison of burnt area estimates derived from key operational products: the Greek wildland fires of 2005–2007

Abstract

With the support of new technologies such as of remote sensing, today's societies have been able to map and analyse wildland fires at large observational scales. With regards to burnt area mapping in particular, two of the most widely used operational products are offered today by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Forest Fires Information System (EFFIS) of the European Commission. In this study, a rigorous intercomparison of the burnt area estimates derived by these two products is performed in a geographical information system (GIS) environment for the Greek fires that occurred from 2005 to 2007. For the same temporal interval, the relationships of the burnt area estimates by each product are examined with respect to land use/cover and elevation derived from CORINE 2000 and the ASTER global digital elevation model (GDEM), respectively. Generally, noticeable differences were found in the burnt area estimates by the two products both spatially and in absolute numbers. The main findings are described and the differences in the burnt area estimates between the two operational datasets are discussed. The lack of precise agreement between the two products which was found does not necessarily mean that one or the other product is inaccurate. Rather, it underlines the requirement for their calibration and validation using high-resolution remote sensing data in future studies. Our work not only builds upon a series of analogous studies evaluating the accuracy of the same or similar operational products worldwide, but also contributes towards the development of standardised validation methodologies required in objectively evaluating such datasets

Quantifying spatial and temporal vegetation recovery dynamics following a wildfire event in a Mediterranean landscape using EO data and GIS

“…In the summer of 2007, Greece was hit by the most devastating large fires in its recent history (Kalivas et al, 2013). During the first half of that year average monthly temperatures in the study area increased from 11°C in January 2007 to 26°C in June (NOAA web site, 2013).…”

“…When combined with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques, EO data have demonstrated promising potential in providing an effective set of tools for analysing and extracting spatial information related to wildfires (Chen et al, 2005;Durduran, 2010;Chen et al, 2011;Kalivas et al, 2013). This integration provides an excellent framework for data capture, storage, synthesis and analysis of acquired spatial data.…”

Appraisal of the Sentinel-1 & 2 use in a large-scale wildfire assessment: A case study from Portugal's fires of 2017

“…Wildfires pose a significant threat to both environment and infrastructure across the globe (Kalivas et al, 2013;Colson et al, 2018). They constitute an important area of study due to the plethora of effects that can have on people and the environment.…”

“…As a result of the frequent occurrence of these optimal conditions for fire outbreaks in the Mediterranean (Inbar et al, 2014), there is a high rate of wildfires within this region. In recent years, the size of wildfires has increased with large-scale fire events contributing a higher percentage towards total area burnt (Ganteaume & Jappiot, 2013;Kalivas et al, 2013;Said et al, 2015).…”

Can We Go Beyond Burned Area in the Assessment of Global Remote Sensing Products with Fire Patch Metrics?

“…Ensuring that pixel-level global fire products conserve patch morphological features at 500 m resolution despite these high OE and CE would allow for global scale investigations into local processes affecting fire spread. Only the few studies listed actually compared patch features between global products and local analysis: Patch area and perimeter features for the 2005-2007 period in Greece was compared to the MCD45A1 dataset and the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) [58], and illustrated how patch complexity could be largely sensor-dependent. Our results also illustrate the high discrepancy between medium resolution products (LANDSAT) and coarse resolution (500 m) global products.…”