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Remote Sensing for Fire Management

FOR 435: Remote Sensing for Fire Management

2. Remote Sensing Primer

• Primer

• A very Brief History

• Modern Applications

“As a young man, my fondest dream was to become a geographer. However, while working in the Patents Office, I thought deeply about the matter and concluded that it was far too difficult a subject. With some reluctance, I then turned to physics as an alternative.” - Albert Einstein

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A GIS is a system for capturing, storing, checking, integrating, manipulating, analyzing, and displaying data which are spatially referenced to the Earth. : http://maps.google.com/

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer

Wildlife Management

Hazard Assessment

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer

We aim to: Physically relate surface process to remotely derived measures

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‘Remote sensing is the science of obtaining information about an objectfrom measurements made at a distance from the object (i.e. withouttouching the object).’

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer

UV - .3-.38 μmVisible - .38-.72 μm IRNear - .72-1.3 μm Mid - 1.3-3 μm (SWIR) Far - 7.0-1,000 μm (Thermal)

Microwave 1mm 30cm

Electromagnetic Spectrum:

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer

Microwave 1mm-30cmRadio >30cm

Reflective spectrum - .38-3 μm -wavelengths

A wavelength or frequency interval in the EMR is commonly referred to as a band.

Radiance and Reflectance

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer

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100%

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer - Reflectance

5%

5%

8%

40% 10%

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer - Reflectance

Energy emitted (q λ) at a given wavelength and temperature is given by the Stefan-Boltzmann law:

q λ = εσ T4 [σ = 5.67 x 10-8 watts/m2/K4]

ε = emissivity, 0 <= ε <= 1, and is the efficiency that surface emits energywhen compared to a black body

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer - Emittance

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FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer - Emittance

Wooster et al 2005

Spatial Resolution

High Low

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer - Scale

Extent

Low High

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer - Scale

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Spectral Resolution

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer - Scale

Seeing the Light with Physics:

1643-1727 Isaac Newton uses a prism to split day-light into the spectrum of the ‘rainbow’

1800: William Herschel discovers the infrared

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer – A very Brief History

1820s: The Photographic Age:

1826: Niepce Takes First Digital Photograph

1839: Photography begins to

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer – A very Brief History

1839: Photography begins to be widely used

1850s: First photographs taken from balloons

Nadar "elevating photography to thecondition of art", 1862, Honoré Daunier.

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1860: Oldest Surviving Aerial Photograph

As Nadar's pioneering work has been lost the oldest surviving aerial

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer – A very Brief History

lost, the oldest surviving aerial photograph was acquired by James Wallace Black of Boston on October 13, 1860:

Seeing the Light with Physics:

1860s: James Clerk Maxwell develops the ‘Theory of Electromagnetic Radiation’

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer – A very Brief History

1873: Hermen Vogel Develops Infrared Film

1900s: The Aviation Age:

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer – A very Brief History

1903: Wright Brothers Invent the Airplane

1910: Wilbur Wright takes the first Aerial photographs of Italy.

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1906: Einstein and Max Planck Develop the ‘photon’ model of light

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer – A very Brief History

1914-18: First spy-remote sensing during WWI

1940s: The Development of Radar During WWII

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer – A very Brief History

1950s The Space Age:

1950s: US Military invents Thermal Remote Sensing

1957: USSR Launches Sputnik 1: First Man-made Satellite in Space

1958: Invention of the Laser at Bell Labs

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer – A very Brief History

1958: Invention of the Laser at Bell Labs

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1960: First ever satellite image of the Earth was taken by TIROS:

TIROS = Television Infrared Observation Satellite

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer – A very Brief History

1972: Landsat Program Begins

1999: TERRA (MODIS) Launched

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer – A very Brief History

NIR – REDNIR + RED

NDVI =

2005: Maps of area burned, vegetation mortality, and recovery developed

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer – A very Brief History

NIR – SWIRNIR + SWIR

NBR =

dNBR = NBRprefire - NBRpostfire

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FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer – A very Brief History

MODIS BIRD3.9 μm channel imagesMODIS andBIRD FRP data in

Boreal Forest

FRP dataMODIS BIRD‘false alarms’

Zhukov, B., et al. (2005) Spaceborne detection and characterization of fires during the Bi-spectral Infrared Detection (BIRD) experimental small satellite mission (2001-2004) Remote Sensing of Environment, 100, 29-51

MIR channel TIR channelMSG SEVIRI

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer – A very Brief History

MIR-TIR Fire Map

15 mins imaging frequency

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FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer – A very Brief History

0 3 6 9 11Day of Burn

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer – A very Brief History

Roberts, G., et al. (2005) Retrieval of biomass combustion rates and totals from fire radiative power observations: Application to southern Africa using geostationary SEVIRI Imagery, JGR, 110, D21111, doi: 10.1029/2005JD006018

BiomassCombusted

= 3.2 million tonnes (1.5 Mtonnes C)(4.3-5.1 million tonnes adj. for cloud)

ect

FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer – A very Brief History

Roberts, G., et al. (2005) Retrieval of biomass combustion rates and totals from fire radiative power observations: Application to southern Africa using geostationary SEVIRI Imagery, JGR, 110, D21111, doi: 10.1029/2005JD006018

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FOR 435: Remote Sensing Primer – A very Brief History