Mapping sub-pixel burnt percentage using AVHRR data. Application to the Alcalaten area in Spain

• Published in: International journal of remote sensing 2010-10, Vol.31 (20), p.5315-5330
• Main Authors: Ruescas, Ana B., Sobrino, Jose A., Julien, Yves, Jiménez-Muñoz, Juan C., Sòria, Guillem, Hidalgo, Victoria, Atitar, Mariam, Franch, Belen, Cuenca, Juan, Mattar, Cristian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied geophysics; Biological and medical sciences; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects. Techniques; Internal geophysics; Mapping; Remote sensing; Teledetection and vegetation maps
• ISSN: 0143-1161; 1366-5901
• DOI: 10.1080/01431160903369592

The purpose of this work is to estimate at sub-pixel scale the percentage of burnt land using the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) through a simple approach. This methodology is based on multi-temporal spectral mixture analysis (MSMA), which uses a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and a land-surface temperature (LST) image as input bands. The area of study is located in the Alcalaten region in Castellon (Spain), a typical semi-arid Mediterranean region. The results have shown an extension of approximately 55 km 2 affected by fire, which is only 5% lower than the statistic reports provided by the Environmental Ministry of Spain. Finally, we include a map of the area showing the percentage of estimated burnt area per pixel and its associated uncertainties. The map was validated through supervised classification of an Airborne Hyperspectral Sensor (AHS) image taken on 27 September 2007. Results have a high accuracy, with a mean error of 6.5%.