![Canada Centre for Remote Sensing Canada Centre for Remote Sensing](/web/20061103032803im_/http://www.ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca/esst_images/ccrs_e.jpeg) Natural Resources Canada > Earth Sciences Sector > Priorities > Canada Centre for Remote Sensing
Forest fires
Wild fires have a significant impact on vegetation dynamics. They are a major disturbance to the boreal ecosystem and contribute to the increase in trace gases that cause variations in climate. Fires also deplete timber resources so that monitoring forest fires is a critical aspect of sustainable forest management.
Using NOAA-11 and NOAA-14 AVHRR images, researchers in the Environmental Monitoring Section, CCRS, have developed algorithms to identify actively burning forest fires. These could be used to provide daily satellite-based fire monitoring for Canada. The algorithms take advantage of information from multi-channel AVHRR measurements to determine the locations of active fires on satellite images (with pixels of about 1 km2) under clear sky or thin cloud conditions. Figure 1a is an example of an image showing forest fires across Canada detected by the NOAA-14 satellite on June 25, 1995. Smoke plumes from fires are clearly seen from AVHRR channel-1 measurements (background) and burning areas (red spots) are detected by the computer algorithm. Zoom-in images are available for the three regions indicated.
The algorithms were applied to a data set containing more than 600 Canada-wide NOAA/AVHRR daily mosaics for the 1994, 1995, 1996 and 1997 fire seasons. The resulting product (Figure 1b) permits a daily view of the situation for active fires across Canada.
Figure 2 combines individual daily fire masks to give an overview of the detected forest fires across Canada throughout the entire burning season for the four years (1994-1997). Data from the 1995 yearly fire mask were compared to data obtained by two Canadian fire detection agencies.
![Figure 3 - Satellite vs Conventional Data](/web/20061103032803im_/http://www.ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca/images/fig3.gif)
Figure 3
Subarea #3, NWT
A = Detected from satellite
B = Conventional methods
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Figure 3 shows (in red) the pixels marked as active fire during the 1995 fire season for a portion of the Northwest Territories (Subarea #3). The blue outlines indicates the boundaries of the burnt areas as observed by fire agencies using conventional means of monitoring. It can be seen that the satellite-based technique does a better job, detecting more fires than the traditional method at much less cost.
![Figure 4 - Fire Evolution in 1995 NWT](/web/20061103032803im_/http://www.ccrs.nrcan.gc.ca/images/fig4.gif)
Figure 4
Fire Evolution in 1995
Subarea #3, NWT
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Satellite monitoring can also provide information on the evolution of fires as they develop. Fire evolution for 1995 in the Northwest Territories is displayed in Figure 4. Each colour represents a 10 day period of active fire in that location.
Reference
Li, Z., J. Cihlar, L. Moreau, F. Huang, B. Lee, Forest fires around the BOREAS region in 1994: In-situ and remote observations, Journal of Geophysical Research.
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