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Satellite-Based Detection and Monitoring of Fire and Fire Effects in the North American Tundra
Nancy
HF
French, Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI), nhfrench@mtu.edu
(Presenter)
Tatiana
V
Loboda, Univ. Maryland, loboda@umd.edu
Mary Ellen
Miller, Michigan Tech Research Institute, marymill@mtu.edu
Liza
Jenkins, Michigan Tech Research Institute, lliverse@mtu.edu
Laura
L
Bourgeau-Chavez, Michigan Tech Research Institute, laura.chavez@mtu.edu
Observed warming in the high northern latitudes has implications related to increased fire in both boreal forest systems and tundra. Warming and modifications to climate patterns has led to an increase in fire occurrence in the tundra, a biome not known for broad-scale fire. The overarching question we are addressing is:
If fire increases in landscapes where fire is neither currently nor historically of great importance, what impacts will this have on ecosystems and ecosystem services?
Current accounting of historical fire for the circumpolar arctic is not complete, partly due to lack of developed algorithms for tundra fire detection. Current satellite-based methods for mapping fire at northern latitudes are focused on algorithms tuned to forested landscapes rather than treeless tundra types, and characteristics of fire effects in tundra are not well understood for development of such algorithms. Fire regime, including the occurrence and severity of fire, is most likely changing, and will be changing quickly since fire is strongly driven by climate. This has important implications regarding carbon cycling and impacts on ecosystems and ecosystem services.
In this presentation of our NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program project we will review three activities that have used remote sensing methods to better understand fire in this remote region. We describe a semi-automated mapping methodology to detect potential fire areas across the North American Tundra with Landsat archive data. Second, we review a study to assess temporal trends in spectral signatures of burned and unburned areas of tussock tundra obtained from Landsat imagery at the Noatak National Preserve in Alaska. The analysis showed the spectral signature of burned areas in tundra deteriorates rapidly, and that common mapping methods based on the NBR were inferior to other spectral methods for separating burned and unburned areas and mapping burn severity. Finally we review progress on an analysis of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery to assess the temporal dynamics of fire-disturbed sites in Alaska as detected in SAR and the variables driving this signature. These remote sensing activities are accompanied by field data collections at tundra sites conducted in the past two summers that allow us to better interpret the remote sensing signatures.
Presentation:
2013_Poster_French_35_110.pdf (1404k)
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: Poster Session 1-B
(Tue 4:30 PM)
Associated Project(s):
Poster Location ID: 35
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