A gentle introduction / 15 min talk given in August 2013 in front of a group of undergraduate interns at the Department for Geology and Geophysics, University of Alaska Fairbanks.

1. Remote Sensing of (Alaskan boreal)
Wildfires (with Satellites) –
Why and How?
Chris Waigl 2013-08-08, GG Remote Sensing lunch seminar UAF

2. Chris Waigl,– cwaigl@alaska.edu – Remote sensing of (boreal) wildfires (with satellites):Why and how? – 2013-08-08
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What’s special about Alaska (and the whole boreal zone)?
Image:Alaska Climate Research Center

3. Chris Waigl,– cwaigl@alaska.edu – Remote sensing of (boreal) wildfires (with satellites):Why and how? – 2013-08-08
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Why? Global (or regional) fire maps
NASA MODIS Global Firemap - July 10-19, 2013

4. Chris Waigl,– cwaigl@alaska.edu – Remote sensing of (boreal) wildfires (with satellites):Why and how? – 2013-08-08
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How is it spreading? Where does the smoke go?
Steward Creek 2 fire 2013- Alaska Fire Service

5. Chris Waigl,– cwaigl@alaska.edu – Remote sensing of (boreal) wildfires (with satellites):Why and how? – 2013-08-08
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How severe is it? How is it impacting the
ecosystem? à Ecology
Steward Creek 2 fire 2013- Image Alaska State Parks

6. Chris Waigl,– cwaigl@alaska.edu – Remote sensing of (boreal) wildfires (with satellites):Why and how? – 2013-08-08
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How? Passive remote sensing from polar-orbiting satellites
For example, MODIS
! 36 bands: 20 reflective visible and
short-wave infrared (250-500m
resolution), 16 emissive mid and
thermal IR1000m
! Up to 8 good images of Alaska / day
Trade-off between resolution
in time and space:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0hsCD4qZMk

7. Chris Waigl,– cwaigl@alaska.edu – Remote sensing of (boreal) wildfires (with satellites):Why and how? – 2013-08-08
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We measure the intensity of radiation
emitted by the fire

8. Chris Waigl,– cwaigl@alaska.edu – Remote sensing of (boreal) wildfires (with satellites):Why and how? – 2013-08-08
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Landsat (July 7, 2009)

9. Chris Waigl,– cwaigl@alaska.edu – Remote sensing of (boreal) wildfires (with satellites):Why and how? – 2013-08-08
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Zooming in…

10. Chris Waigl,– cwaigl@alaska.edu – Remote sensing of (boreal) wildfires (with satellites):Why and how? – 2013-08-08
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Time series: July 4-7, 2009, MODIS over Landsat

11. Chris Waigl,– cwaigl@alaska.edu – Remote sensing of (boreal) wildfires (with satellites):Why and how? – 2013-08-08
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2004 Boundary Fire – MODIS Terra
What’s in a pixel?
• shape
• overlap
• distortion
1 px = 1 x 1 km
at nadir (= looking
straight down)

12. Chris Waigl,– cwaigl@alaska.edu – Remote sensing of (boreal) wildfires (with satellites):Why and how? – 2013-08-08
2004 Boundary Fire – simultaneous ASTER image
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1 px = 30 x 30 m

13. Chris Waigl,– cwaigl@alaska.edu – Remote sensing of (boreal) wildfires (with satellites):Why and how? – 2013-08-08
2004 Boundary Fire – sub-pixel fire temperature
= temperature of the portion of the pixel that is actually on fire
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14. Chris Waigl,– cwaigl@alaska.edu – Remote sensing of (boreal) wildfires (with satellites):Why and how? – 2013-08-08
Different method: Active remote sensing with
microwaves (radar backscatter - SAR)
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new burn
old fire scar

15. Chris Waigl,– cwaigl@alaska.edu – Remote sensing of (boreal) wildfires (with satellites):Why and how? – 2013-08-08
Overlaying MODIS hotspot pixels on SAR
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16. Chris Waigl,– cwaigl@alaska.edu – Remote sensing of (boreal) wildfires (with satellites):Why and how? – 2013-08-08
Different method: Thermal aerial imagery
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17. Chris Waigl,– cwaigl@alaska.edu – Remote sensing of (boreal) wildfires (with satellites):Why and how? – 2013-08-08
Thanks!
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Lime River fire 2013- Alaska Fire Service
Data and imagery courtesy of:
• Alaska Fire Service/AICC
• U.S. Geological Survey
• NASA’s Earth-Sun System Division
• Martin Stuefer
• Alaska Climate Research Center
• Alaska Satellite Facility/SAR Data Center
• Alaska State Parks