Active forest fire monitoring in Uttaranchal State, India using multi‐temporal DMSP‐OLS and MODIS data

This paper gives an account of day-night active forest fire monitoring conducted over the sub-tropical and moist temperate forests of the Uttaranchal State, India, during 2005 using the Defence Meteorological Satellite Program-Operational Line Scan system (DMSP-OLS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite data. The state experienced heavy fire episodes during May-June 2005 and daily datasets of DMSP-OLS (night-time) and selected cloud-free MODIS (daytime) datasets were used in mapping active fire locations. DMSP-OLS collects data in visible (0.5 to 0.9 µm) and thermal (10.5 to 12.5 µm) bands and detects dim sources of lighting on the earth's surface, including fires. The enhanced fire algorithm for active fire detection (version 4) was used in deriving fire products from MODIS datasets. Fire locations derived from DMSP-OLS and MODIS data were validated with limited ground data from forest department and media reports. Results of the study indicated that the state experienced heavy fire episodes, most of them occurring during night-time rather than daytime. Validation of satellite-derived fires with ground data showed a high degree of spatial correlation.