Mapping Burned Forest Areas in Western Yunnan, China, Using Multi-Source Optical Imagery Integrated with Simple Non-Iterative Clustering Segmentation and Random Forest Algorithms in Google Earth Engine

Abstract

This study aimed to accurately map burned forest areas and analyze the spatial distribution of forest fires under complex terrain conditions. This study integrates Landsat 8, Sentinel-2, and MODIS data to map burned forest areas in the complex terrain of western Yunnan. A machine learning workflow was developed on Google Earth Engine by combining Dynamic World land cover data with official fire records, utilizing a logistic regression-based feature selection strategy and an enhanced SNIC segmentation GEOBIA framework. The performance of four classifiers (RF, SVM, KNN, CART) in burn detection was evaluated through a comparative analysis of their spectral–spatial discrimination capabilities. The results indicated that the RF classifier achieved the highest performance, with an overall accuracy of 96.32% and a Kappa coefficient of 0.951. Spatial analysis further revealed that regions at medium altitudes (800–1600 m) and moderate slopes (15–25°) are more prone to forest fires. This study demonstrates a robust approach for generating accurate large-scale forest fire maps and provides valuable insights for effective fire management in complex terrain areas.