Forest burnt area assessment possibilities in regions of Russia based on active fires detection by satellites

Abstract

The article focuses on possibilities to assess the forest burnt area using active fires detection results based on Earth observation data of moderate spatial resolution. The burnt area estimates based on near real time active fires detection has been compared with burnt area mapping results based on Landsat images to find area measurements errors in relation to fire size. The method to estimate burnt area accuracy at the regional level is introduced. The analysis of burnt area data for the period of 2001-2016 across entire Russia led to assessment of errors in different regions. The study demonstrates that in 80% of cases, the error of forest burnt area estimates based on active fires detection at the regional level does not exceed 30%. If total forest burnt area in a region exceeds 100 000 ha the error is below 10%.