Forest Fire Mapping Using Multi-Source Remote Sensing Data: A Case Study in Chongqing

Forest fires are one of the most severe natural disasters facing global ecosystems, as they have a significant impact on ecological security and social development. As remote sensing technology has developed, burned areas can now be quickly extracted to support fire monitoring and post-disaster recovery. This study focused on monitoring forest fires that occurred in Chongqing, China, in August 2022. The burned area was identified using various satellite images, including Sentinel-2, Landsat8, Environmental Mitigation II A (HJ2A), and Gaofen-6 (GF-6). The burned area was extracted using visual interpretation, differenced Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (dNDVI), and differenced Normalized Burnup Ratio (dNBR). The results showed that: (1) The results of the three monitoring methods were very consistent, with a coefficient of determination R-2 > 0.96. (2) A threshold method based on the dNBR-extracted burned area was used to analyze fire severity, with moderate-severity fires making up the majority (58.05%) of the fires. (3) Different topographic factors had some influence on the severity of the forest fires. High elevation, steep slopes and the northwestern aspect had the largest percentage of burned area.

Automated summary

This study used various satellite images to extract the burned area of forest fires that occurred in Chongqing, China in August 2022. The results of three monitoring methods were consistent, with a coefficient of determination R-2 > 0.96. Fire severity was analyzed using a threshold method based on the extracted dNBR, revealing that moderate-severity fires accounted for the majority (58.05%). Different topographic factors influenced the severity of the forest fires, with high elevation, steep slopes, and northwestern aspect having the largest burned area.