The potentiality of Sentinel-2 to assess the effect of fire events on Mediterranean mountain vegetation

Abstract

Wildfires are currently one of the most important environmental problems, as they cause disturbance in ecosystems generating environmental, economic and social costs. The Sentinel-2 from Copernicus Program (Sentinel satellites) offers a great tool for post-fire monitoring. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the potential of Sentinel-2 in a peculiar mountainous landscape by measuring and identifying the burned areas and monitor the short-term response of the vegetation in different ‘burn severity’ classes. A Sentinel-2 dataset was created, and pre-processing operations were performed. Relativized Burn Ratio (RBR) was calculated to identify ‘burn scar’ and discriminate the ‘burn severity’ classes. A two-year monitoring was carried out with areas identified based on different severity classes, using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to investigate the short-term vegetation dynamics of the burned habitats; habitats refer to Annex I of the European Directive 92/43/EEC. The study area is located in ‘Campo Imperatore’ within the Gran Sasso – Monti della Laga National Park (central Italy). The first important result was the identification and quantification of the area affected by fire. The RBR allowed us to identify even the less damaged habitats with high accuracy. The survey highlighted the importance of these Open-source tools for qualitative and quantitative evaluation of fires and the short-term assessment of vegetation recovery dynamics. The information gathered by this type of monitoring can be used by decision-makers both for emergency management and for possible environmental restoration of the burned areas.

Landslide Risk Management in Areas Affected by Wildfires or Floods: A Comprehensive Framework Integrating GIS, Remote Sensing Techniques, and Regional Climate Models

“…The severity of a wildfire can be evaluated either through the NDVI change (before and after the wildfire), or similar indexes (such as the Differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (DNBR), the Relativized Burn Ratio (RBR) (De Simone et al, 2020), and the Burned Vegetation Index (BVI) (Kovács, 2019). Besides the assessment of severity, these indexes can also provide vital information concerning the changes caused to the forest structure and moisture (Cocke et al, 2005).…”

Análisis de la cobertura vegetal en incendios forestales mediante índices espectrales: caso de estudio Cerros Orientales (Bogotá, Colombia)

“…Otro caso, como el estudiado por [39] en Italia, presenta de qué modo la cobertura vegetal durante los incendios forestales registra un NDVI de 0,423, valor que al compararlo con los resultados encontrados en el presente estudio no implica una reducción tan significativa, dado que aún el NDVI registra valores relativamente altos, lo que permite inferir que la calidad de la vegetación en Fonte della Vetica (Italia) es mejor con respecto a la calidad encontrada en los Cerros Orientales en condiciones normales (sin la presencia de incendios forestales). Por otro lado, en la investigación desarrollada en Italia se encontró que dentro de la zona de estudio hay presencia de Pinus pinaster (especie pirófita), que argumenta por qué la calidad de la vegetación no presenta cambios abruptos [39].…”

Modeling the Spatial Distribution of Acacia decurrens Plantation Forests Using PlanetScope Images and Environmental Variables in the Northwestern Highlands of Ethiopia

“…The remote sensing-based assessment of forest study is repetitive, affordable, competent, and non-destructive for monitoring [25]. Recently, in complementarity with field data, it has shown great adaptability in environmental studies such as droughts [26], floods [27], the spread of invasive species [28], disturbance [29], and other human-induced pressures [30]. The contribution of satellite data is becoming impressive to monitor the spatial distribution and temporal dynamics of plantation forests [31].…”