Open AccessValidation and calibration of Canada-wide coarse-resolution satellite burned area maps
Author(s) -
Robert Fraser,
R J Hall,
Robert J. Landry,
T. J. Lynham,
D. Raymond,
B Lee,
Zhongbin B. Li
Publication year - 2003
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.4095/219977
Subject(s) - thematic mapper , environmental science , remote sensing , satellite , vegetation (pathology) , image resolution , sampling (signal processing) , crown (dentistry) , calibration , satellite imagery , meteorology , physical geography , geography , mathematics , statistics , computer science , pathology , medicine , dentistry , artificial intelligence , engineering , aerospace engineering , filter (signal processing) , computer vision
Satellite-based mapping can provide a timely and efficient means of identifying burned vegetation at continental scales for estimating greenhouse gas emissions and its effects on the terrestrial carbon budget. In this study, we used a sample of 55 LandsatThematic Mapper (TM) scenes distributed across Canada to validate and calibrate 1998 and 1999 national-level burned areas maps produced using coarse resolution (~ 1-km) SPOT VEGETATION and NOAA AVHRR imagery. Commission and omissions errors, based on fire events > 200 ha, were foundto be small in the coarse resolution maps (4% and 1%, respectively). However, the coarse resolution burned area estimates were 72 percent larger than the crown fire burned area mapped at 30 m using Landsat TM (11,039 vs. 6,403 ha average area). This bias was attributed to spatial aggregationeffects in which the coarse resolution product included the tree crown fire, partial burn, and unburned fractions of a pixel. A regression calibration model (R2=0.95, p< 0.0005, RMS=3,015 ha, n=155) based on a VGT/TM double sampling approach was derived to correct for the aggregation biasand to provide Canada-wide estimates of crown fire burned area.