Sensitivity of Landsat image-derived burn severity indices to immediate post-fire effects

Hudak, A.T.; Lewis, S.; Robichaud, P.; Morgan, P.; Bobbitt, M.; Lentile, L.; Smith, A.; Holden, Z.; Clark, J.; McKinley, R. 2006. Sensitivity of Landsat image-derived burn severity indices to immediate post-fire effects. Third International Fire Ecology and Management Congress Proceedings. CD-ROM. 3 p.

Keywords: burn severity, LANDSAT

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Abstract: The USFS Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC) and the USGS Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) produce Burned Area Reflectance Classification (BARC) maps as a rapid, preliminary indication of burn severity on large wildfire events. Currently the preferred burn severity index is the delta Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR), which requires NBR values from both immediate post-fire and pre-fire Landsat images, the preferred satellite image source. The objective was to compare NBR, dNBR, and other indices with potential to indicate burn severity, using as the evaluation measure the correlation strength between the burn severity indices (BSI) and post-fire effects (PFE) measured on the ground.

Moscow FSL publication no. 2006s