L3JRC - A Global, Multi-Year (2000-2007) Burnt Area Product (1 Km Resolution and Daily Time Steps)

ABSTRACT: This paper reports on the development and validation of a new, global, burnt area product. Burnt areas are reported at a resolution of 1km for seven fire years (2000 to 2007). The uniqueness of this data set is that daily, global maps of burnt area have been computed. The algorithm is a modified version of one of the algorithms developed in the Global Burnt Area (GBA) 2000 project (Tansey et al., 2004). An analysis of the total amount of area burnt indicate that estimates vary between 3.5 million km2 and 4.5 million km2 of vegetation burns. Around 2 million km2 is burning of shrub cover (in comparison with forest cover and agricultural burning). A validation strategy involving 72 Landsat TM scenes was undertaken. A cross-section of this validation for Africa shows that the L3JRC algorithm (described in this paper) tends to underestimate the actual area burnt. The amount of underestimation depends on vegetation type. Future work will focus on improving the spatial resolution of the validation strategy and an in-depth examination into the causes of commission and omission in different vegetation types.

TANSEY Kevin;  GREGOIRE Jean-Marie;  PEREIRA Jose M.C.;  DEFOURNY Pierre;  LEIGH Roland;  PEKEL Jean-François;  BARROS Ana;  SILVA Joao M.;  VAN BOGAERT Eric;  BARTHOLOME' Etienne;  BONTEMPS Sophie; 

2007-10-01

Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society

JRC38126

http://www.ceg.ncl.ac.uk/rspsoc2007/papers.htm,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC38126,