Using satellite time-series data sets to analyze fire disturbance and forest recovery across Canada

Goetz, Scott J.; Fiske, Greg; Bunn, A. G.

doi:10.1016/j.rse.2006.01.011

Cited by 205 publications

(182 citation statements)

References 46 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

174

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Spectral indices have been widely used to monitor post-fire vegetation regeneration (Bastos et al, 2011;Chen et al, 2011;Di Mauro et al, 2014;Goetz et al, 2006;Meng et al, 2015). However, spectral changes related to vegetation recovery can be observed in more than just two spectral bands.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Burn severity influence on post-fire vegetation cover resilience from Landsat MESMA fraction images time series in Mediterranean forest ecosystems

Fernández–Manso

Quintano

Roberts

2016

Remote Sensing of Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mediterranean ecosystems are adapted to recurrent forest fires by having regeneration mechanisms that overcome the immediate effects of fire. However, the increasing frequency of fires in most European Mediterranean countries is challenging the natural regrowth capability of these ecosystems. In this context, monitoring post-fire vegetation recovery is a priority for forest management and soil erosion control. In this work, a 13-year series (1999-2011) of Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM)/Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM +) data was used to model post-fire vegetation recovery as a function of burn severity and to quantify post-fire resilience as a measure of vegetation cover regrowth. We evaluated a large forest fire located in Spain that burned approximately 30 km 2 of Pinus pinaster Ait. in August 1998. 88 field plots of four burn severity levels (unburned, low, moderate and high) were measured in the field a year after the fire. As a variable representative of vegetation, we chose the shade normalized green vegetation fraction image (SGV) obtained by applying Multiple Endmember Spectral Mixture Analysis (MESMA) to the original Landsat TM/ETM + images. The SGV values were extracted for the 88 field plots and, after performing a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), a Fisher's Least Significant Difference (LSD) test allowed us to estimate resilience of vegetation cover as the number of post-fire years exhibiting a statistically significant difference between burned and unburned areas. Next, SGV values were referenced to unburned control plots values and the vegetation recovery index (VRI) was defined. The evolution in time curve of VRI for low, moderate and highly fire affected vegetation was fit using trend models (specifically, an exponential trend for VRI in high and moderate burn severity levels; a linear trend for low burn severity level, Root Mean Square Error, RMSE = 0.18, 0.13, and 0.09, respectively). We observed that vegetation cover affected by low severity fire recovered to its original state after 7 years, and vegetation cover affected by moderate severity recovered after 13 years. Vegetation affected by high severity fire was estimated to recover after 20 years. We conclude that VRI time series based on multitemporal MESMA fractions from Landsat data can be considered a valuable indicator of the post-fire vegetation cover recovery. Its temporal evolution represented post-fire vegetation cover regrowth adequately and facilitated the estimate of vegetation cover resilience in Mediterranean forests.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Burn severity influence on post-fire vegetation cover resilience from Landsat MESMA fraction images time series in Mediterranean forest ecosystems

Fernández–Manso

Quintano

Roberts

2016

Remote Sensing of Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The difference between the burned and unburned areas was then calculated to build up a response of the NDVI to disturbance over time, accounting for the influence of inter-annual variability and other environmental factors captured in the unburned areas (Goetz et al, 2006). The difference of mean annual NDVI between burned and unburned areas as a function of time after the fire is represented in Fig.…”

Section: B Post-fire Ndvi Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the pre-fire years the differences between burned and unburned areas were not significant (year −2, p = 0.447; year −1, p = 0.668), which indicates that the control sites were similar in characteristics to the burned areas before the fire. (Goetz et al, 2006) rather than the most impacted pixel (Hicke et al, 2003), which might need a longer period to regenerate. However, we are also considering the entire burned area so, which raises the question why we obtain a much longer recovery period than Goetz et al (2006).…”

Section: B Post-fire Ndvi Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(Goetz et al, 2006) rather than the most impacted pixel (Hicke et al, 2003), which might need a longer period to regenerate. However, we are also considering the entire burned area so, which raises the question why we obtain a much longer recovery period than Goetz et al (2006). This question becomes crucial if we bear in mind that the prevailing fire type has been reported to differ markedly in the boreal forests of Siberia and North America.…”

Section: B Post-fire Ndvi Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is a considerable body of research investigating how warming has and will influence the forests and vegetation of the boreal region, and what the implications of warming in high latitudes are for global-scale carbon dynamics (Goetz et al, 2006 (Cahoon et al, 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Post-fire vegetation phenology in Siberian burn scars

Balzter

Gonzalez

Gerard

et al. 2007

2007 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract-Boreal forests comprise one third of global forested area and are the largest terrestrial carbon store. Forest fires are the regions most dynamic disturbance factor, occurring mainly in Siberia, Russian Far East, Canada and Alaska, and these fires represent a globally important release of terrestrial carbon to the atmosphere, via the burning of vegetation and organic soils. Currently the boreal region is believed to be a net carbon sink, but climate change predictions indicate significant boreal warming, with consequent increases in fire activity and carbon release. Ultimately, the boreal zone may become a net carbon source through forest fires and increased soil decomposition, and there is evidence that the Canadian forest may have already made this transition. Critical to estimating both direct and longer-term fire-related perturbations to boreal carbon storage is knowledge of fire extent, intensity and/or type, which has a strong control on forest fire "damage", the fraction of available fuel combusted, and patterns of post-fire re-growth. These variables are currently derived from model-based assessment of often-uncertain accuracy, introducing large uncertainties to current carbon flux calculations. The post-fire re-growth process is of great importance since whilst fire releases carbon into the atmosphere, carbon sequestration through post-fire regeneration of plants and woody vegetation may help to reduce the amounts of carbon in the atmosphere. Observational data, such as vegetation indices, biophysical vegetation parameters, burnt area and fire radiative power, derived from satellite measurements are exploited to investigate post-fire regeneration and pre and post-fire temporal dynamics in the boreal forest. The relationship between post-fire dynamics and variables such as fire intensity, vegetation cover and climate are investigated. The ultimate aim of the proposed work is to improve insight into the Siberian boreal forest post-fire dynamics, leading to more realistic carbon flux quantification in the boreal biome and subsequently to a better quantitative understanding of the role of boreal forest regeneration in the global atmospheric carbon record.

show abstract

Permafrost thaw and wildfire: Equally important drivers of boreal tree cover changes in the Taiga Plains, Canada

Helbig

Pappas

Sonnentag

2016

Geophysical Research Letters

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Boreal forests cover vast areas of the permafrost zones of North America, and changes in their composition and structure can lead to pronounced impacts on the regional and global climate. We partition the variation in regional boreal tree cover changes between 2000 and 2014 across the Taiga Plains, Canada, into its main causes: permafrost thaw, wildfire disturbance, and postfire regrowth. Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer Percent Tree Cover (PTC) data are used in combination with maps of historic fires, and permafrost and drainage characteristics. We find that permafrost thaw is equally important as fire history to explain PTC changes. At the southern margin of the permafrost zone, PTC loss due to permafrost thaw outweighs PTC gain from postfire regrowth. These findings emphasize the importance of permafrost thaw in controlling regional boreal forest changes over the last decade, which may become more pronounced with rising air temperatures and accelerated permafrost thaw.

show abstract

Using satellite time-series data sets to analyze fire disturbance and forest recovery across Canada

Cited by 205 publications

References 46 publications

Burn severity influence on post-fire vegetation cover resilience from Landsat MESMA fraction images time series in Mediterranean forest ecosystems

Burn severity influence on post-fire vegetation cover resilience from Landsat MESMA fraction images time series in Mediterranean forest ecosystems

Post-fire vegetation phenology in Siberian burn scars

Permafrost thaw and wildfire: Equally important drivers of boreal tree cover changes in the Taiga Plains, Canada

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About