HR: 14:55h
AN: B13E-05 INVITED    [Abstracts]
TI: An Integrated Suite of Multi-scale Remote Sensing Approaches for Measuring Thermal Characteristics and Associated Effects During Wildland Fires
AU: * Hardy, C C
EM: chardy01@fs.fed.us
AF: USDA Forest Service--Rocky Mountain Research Station, 5775 US Highway 10 West, Missoula, MT 59808, United States
AB: Historically, much of the data used to describe the behavior and characteristics of wildland fires have been derived from post-fire observations, anecdotal evidence, or modeling, rather than from in situ measurements of the fire phenomenon. When used to develop cause-and-effect relationships with respect to first- and second- order fire effects, these inferences frequently become circular. This paper presents a highly integrated fire remote sensing study designed to explore the relative accuracy and efficacy of alternative remote sensing methods for characterizing fires and for predicting first-order fire effects. For this study, we developed new instruments and protocols and also adapted state-of-science technology to acquire remotely-sensed data at multiple temporal and spatial scales on wildland fires. As many as four remote sensing approaches were implemented in a hierarchy of both space and time on each of eight field deployments during four wildland fire incidents. Approaches included in situ kinetic and radiometric thermal observations within a plot area which is to be burned over by fire; oblique-angle thermal radiometry from a viewpoint outside of the instrument deployment site; multi- spectral thermal infrared image acquisition from fixed-wing aircraft; MODIS sensor fire detection and mapping. In addition, both pre- and post-fire ground sampling was performed within the plot to characterize fuel loadings and moistures, vegetation, overstory, and site attributes. In this paper, I present and describe new remote sensing technologies, compare their relative performances through assessment of data acquired at four spatial scales, and we discuss the relationship of the thermal flux data to first-order fire effects at multiple field deployment sites.
DE: 0452 Instruments and techniques
DE: 0480 Remote sensing
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting