Land cover classification of active fire and burned area detections for Canadian provinces, 2001-2010.

[摘要] This thesis is a methodological analysis of fire locations in Canadian provincesfrom 2001 to 2010. The research presented in this thesis highlights the dominant firetypes for each province. Accurately locating active fires and burned area is critical toimproving emissions estimates of greenhouse gases and black carbon in northernlatitudes. Black carbon and emissions are climate changers. Continual release ofemissions from a source location has been shown to alter the atmosphere near the source.Black carbon, or soot ash, deposited on arctic snow and ice leads to faster deterioration ofthe snow and ice. Detected fires and burned areas are recorded by the MODIS satellitesensor on-board the geo-synchronous orbiting Terra and Aqua satellite platforms.The Introduction and Present Study sections introduce the topic. Satellite data andimagery greatly increase accuracy of emissions estimates and aid emergency responseteams and hazard monitoring situations. Infrared sensors onboard the Aqua and Terrasatellites allow scientists, emergency planners, and citizens to monitor fires that may behazardous to their lives, property, and families. The MODIS sensor also allows us theunique perspective of spatially locating fires and their areal extent. The Data section describes the technological specifications of the three remote sensing products: MODIS Active Fire Product, MODIS Burned Area Product, and MODIS Land Cover Dataset. The Literature Review section situates this thesis into its historical perspective. Remote sensing is a new science; new techniques are being developed daily. This exciting new science allows researchers to study the specific wavelengths of light that are not visible to the naked eye. The Methodology section justifies the use of the techniques used in this project and presents a past study that was conducted to test the variousproducts available in order to produce the most accurate picture of what is occurring onthe ground. The Results and Conclusions present the spatial and temporal distributions of firesin Canadian Provinces from 2001 to 2010. Emergency response units and researchers canuse this research to plan for future fire events. This research is also a first step inproducing emissions estimates for the region.

[发布机构] University:University of Louisville;Department:Geography and Geosciences

[效力级别] Geography methods

[关键词] Remote sensing;Geography methods;Fire;Geography techniques;Canada