Mapping and monitoring cropland burning in Russia: a multi-sensor approach.

Joanne Vanessa Hall, University of Maryland, jhall1@umd.edu (Presenter)
Tatiana Loboda, Univ. Maryland, loboda@umd.edu
Greg McCarty, USDA - ARS, greg.mccarty@ars.usda.gov

Short lived aerosols and pollutants transported from northern mid-latitudes have amplified the short term warming in the Arctic region. Specifically, black carbon is recognized as the second most important human emission in regards to climate forcing, behind carbon dioxide with a total climate forcing of +1.1Wm^-2. Early studies have suggested that cropland burning may be a high contributor to the black carbon emissions which are directly deposited above the Arctic Circle. However, accurate monitoring of cropland burning from existing active fire and burned area products is limited, thereby leading to an underestimation in black carbon emissions from cropland burning.

The author is finalizing a new multi-sensor approach to burned area mapping in Russian croplands through the creation of the Cropland Regional Area Burned (CRAB) product. The algorithm uses a combination of very high resolution (VHR, defined as spatial resolution less than 5m) imagery and 500m daily surface reflectance MODIS data. The algorithm focuses on tracking the natural intra-annual development curve specific for crops rather than natural vegetation and works by identifying the subtle spectral nuances between varieties of cropland field categories. The VHR imagery allows for more accurate identification of field condition (burned, bare, residue, plow) through visual interpretation and by the incorporation of the 1km MODIS Active Fire (MCD14) dataset as a means of independent validation for the selection of burned training and validation samples.



An accuracy assessment was carried out on MCD45, MCD64, MCD14 and CRAB. All four products were unable to map approximately 90% of the burn validation samples during fall (93%, 98%, 92% and 96% omission errors respectively), while in spring there was a slight improvement using the CRAB product (94%, 98%, 92% and 88% omission error respectively). The current inability to accurately quantify the magnitude of cropland burning using existing burned area products is leading to an underestimation of true cropland burned area. Further analysis is currently underway to refine the cropland burned area output from CRAB and thereby improve the quantification of the spatio-temporal patterns of burning in the Russian croplands.

Presentation Type:  Poster

Session:  General Contributions   (Tue 4:35 PM)

Associated Project(s): 

• Related Activity: Related Activity or Previously Funded CC&E Activity not listed ...details

Poster Location ID: 159