Andrew Yee[_1_]
May 6th 08, 04:15 PM
ESA News
http://www.esa.int
3 April 2008
ESA to study forest fires from orbit
A new ESA study aims to deduce better ways of characterising the devastation
caused by fires. It will develop computer techniques to improve the already
existing methods of interpreting satellite data that shows burnt areas on
the surface of the Earth.
Between 2001 and 2004, an area of between 2.97 million and 3.74 million
kilometres squared was burnt on the Earth. Whereas lightning is believed to
be responsible for most of the fires in highly wooded, sparsely populated
areas such as the forests of Canada, in Europe the fires are usually the
result of human activity, in some cases arson.
However they start, fires must be carefully monitored. At present, the
methods used to measure the amount of burnt vegetation are not sophisticated
and cannot be applied universally. They require fine-tuning depending upon
the characteristics of the satellite used to make the observations, and only
provide estimates of the amount of burnt matter because they do not take
into account that some trees are not completely destroyed by the fire. "We
see burnt areas as 'scars' on satellite pictures but they do not tell us
about the volume that has been burnt," says Dulce Lajas, ESA technical
officer on the new study.
Funded by ESA's General Studies Programme, the new study will develop a
computer model based on theoretical assumptions and mathematical equations
that can better measure the amount of green vegetation remaining after the
fire has occurred. Part of this study will be to investigate and measure the
remains of fires in order to verify if the computer model is adequate for
this purpose. To do this, the team plans to go to the National Kruger Park,
South Africa, and start fires under carefully controlled conditions.
Traditionally, it has been assumed that a fire consumes all the biomass
within its confines. However, this is seldom if ever true and a significant
amount of biomass remains untouched even after a fire has swept through the
region. The new study aims to provide the telltale signals that will allow
the amount of remaining biomass to be estimated. So, part of the study will
be to compare the model results with satellite data to verify that reliable
information about the burnt surface can be retrieved. "This will also make
it possible to monitor the re-growth of a forest," says Lajas.
Forest management has become an important issue because of the social and
economic impact it can have on surrounding communities. There are also
climate change concerns because the well-known greenhouse gas carbon dioxide
is absorbed by vegetation and then released when fire consumes plants. So,
this study could also be a source of useful data for the purposes of climate
modelling.
The output of this study may contribute to the planning of future missions,
and feed into the joint European UnionEuropean Space Agency initiative, GMES
(Global Monitoring for Environment and Security). In particular, the study
is appropriate for the second GMES spacecraft, Sentinel-2, which is planned
to carry an infrared camera partly dedicated to forest monitoring.
ESA expect the study to run for 18 months, finishing in 2009.
[NOTE: An image and weblinks supporting this release are available at
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/GSP/SEMP8T5QGEF_1.html ]
http://www.esa.int
3 April 2008
ESA to study forest fires from orbit
A new ESA study aims to deduce better ways of characterising the devastation
caused by fires. It will develop computer techniques to improve the already
existing methods of interpreting satellite data that shows burnt areas on
the surface of the Earth.
Between 2001 and 2004, an area of between 2.97 million and 3.74 million
kilometres squared was burnt on the Earth. Whereas lightning is believed to
be responsible for most of the fires in highly wooded, sparsely populated
areas such as the forests of Canada, in Europe the fires are usually the
result of human activity, in some cases arson.
However they start, fires must be carefully monitored. At present, the
methods used to measure the amount of burnt vegetation are not sophisticated
and cannot be applied universally. They require fine-tuning depending upon
the characteristics of the satellite used to make the observations, and only
provide estimates of the amount of burnt matter because they do not take
into account that some trees are not completely destroyed by the fire. "We
see burnt areas as 'scars' on satellite pictures but they do not tell us
about the volume that has been burnt," says Dulce Lajas, ESA technical
officer on the new study.
Funded by ESA's General Studies Programme, the new study will develop a
computer model based on theoretical assumptions and mathematical equations
that can better measure the amount of green vegetation remaining after the
fire has occurred. Part of this study will be to investigate and measure the
remains of fires in order to verify if the computer model is adequate for
this purpose. To do this, the team plans to go to the National Kruger Park,
South Africa, and start fires under carefully controlled conditions.
Traditionally, it has been assumed that a fire consumes all the biomass
within its confines. However, this is seldom if ever true and a significant
amount of biomass remains untouched even after a fire has swept through the
region. The new study aims to provide the telltale signals that will allow
the amount of remaining biomass to be estimated. So, part of the study will
be to compare the model results with satellite data to verify that reliable
information about the burnt surface can be retrieved. "This will also make
it possible to monitor the re-growth of a forest," says Lajas.
Forest management has become an important issue because of the social and
economic impact it can have on surrounding communities. There are also
climate change concerns because the well-known greenhouse gas carbon dioxide
is absorbed by vegetation and then released when fire consumes plants. So,
this study could also be a source of useful data for the purposes of climate
modelling.
The output of this study may contribute to the planning of future missions,
and feed into the joint European UnionEuropean Space Agency initiative, GMES
(Global Monitoring for Environment and Security). In particular, the study
is appropriate for the second GMES spacecraft, Sentinel-2, which is planned
to carry an infrared camera partly dedicated to forest monitoring.
ESA expect the study to run for 18 months, finishing in 2009.
[NOTE: An image and weblinks supporting this release are available at
http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/GSP/SEMP8T5QGEF_1.html ]