Monitoring post-fire recovery of various vegetation biomes using multi-wavelength satellite remote sensing

[摘要] Anthropogenic climate change is now considered to be oneof the main factors causing an increase in both the frequency and severity ofwildfires. These fires are prone to release substantial quantities ofCO 2 into the atmosphere and to endanger natural ecosystems andbiodiversity. Depending on the ecosystem and climate regime, fires havedistinct triggering factors and impacts. To better analyse this phenomenon,we investigated post-fire vegetation anomalies over different biomes, from2012 to 2020. The study was performed using several remotely sensedquantities ranging from visible–infrared vegetation indices (the enhancedvegetation index (EVI)) to vegetation opacities obtained at several passive-microwave wavelengths (X-band, C-band, and L-band vegetation optical depth(X-VOD, C-VOD, and L-VOD)), ranging from 2 to 20 cm. It was found that C-and X-VOD are mostly sensitive to fire impact on low-vegetation areas (grassand shrublands) or on tree leaves, while L-VOD depicts the fireimpact on tree trunks and branches better. As a consequence, L-VOD is probably abetter way of assessing fire impact on biomass. The study shows that L-VODcan be used to monitor fire-affected areas as well as post-fire recovery,especially over densely vegetated areas.

[学科分类] 大气科学