TITLE:
Retrospective analysis of two northern California wild-land fires via Landsat five satellite imagery and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
AUTHORS:
Bennett Sall, Michael W. Jenkins, James Pushnik
KEYWORDS:
Wild-Land Fire; Burn Severity; Vegetation Recovery; Normalized Difference Vegetative Index (NDVI); Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR)
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Ecology,
Vol.3 No.4,
July
23,
2013
ABSTRACT: Wild-land fires are a
dynamic and destructive force in natural ecosystems. In recent decades, fire
disturbances have increased concerns and awareness over significant economic
loss and landscape change. The focus of this research was to study two northern
California wild-land fires: Butte Humboldt Complex and Butte Lightning Complex
of 2008 and assessment of vegetation recovery after the fires via ground based
measurements and utilization of Landsat 5 imagery and analysis software to
assess landscape change. Multi-temporal and burn severity dynamics and
assessment through satellite imagery were used to visually ascertain levels of landscape
change, under two temporal scales. Visual interpretation indicated noticeable
levels of landscape change and relevant insight into the magnitude and impact of both wild-land
fires. Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) and delta NBR (DNBR) data allowed for quantitative analysis
of burn severity levels. DNBR
results indicate low severity and low re-growth for Butte Humboldt Complex
“burned center” subplots. In contrast, DNBR values for Butte Lightning Complex “burned
center” subplots indicated low-moderate burn severity levels.