Monitoring The Regeneration Process of Areas Destroyed by Forest Fires Aided by Google Earth Engine

Abstract

Abstract Aim of study: Our world is exposed to forest fires and threatens both natural and human environments. Remote sensing is one of the effective techniques to monitor forest fires. However, accessing and processing data on the field is challenging for researchers as it is costly and time-consuming. Area of study: In this study, the Mersin-Gülnar fire that happened in 2008 in the Mersin region was investigated. Materials and methods: Starting from 2000, data from the MODIS satellite images were used to monitor the forest's regeneration process along the forest fire's complete timeline. For this, analyzes were made over 471 Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) MODIS satellite data from 2000 until 2020. The analyses were made in Google Earth Engine. Main results: According to the data processed on the Google Earth Engine platform, the vegetation cover was damaged after the fire. As a result of the examined 471 MODIS images, it was observed that the recovery process of the study area after a forest fire takes an average of 10 years. Highlights: Remote sensing methodologies and satellite datasets provide powerful functionality for assessing the damage caused by forest fires. This study is an example that the recovery period of forest fires is long, and it brings many difficulties together with other natural events.