Next Article in Journal
Experimental Study of Cloud-to-Ground Lightning Nowcasting with Multisource Data Based on a Video Prediction Method
Next Article in Special Issue
Coastal Vulnerability Assessment of Bali Province, Indonesia Using Remote Sensing and GIS Approaches
Previous Article in Journal
Combined Use of Aerial Photogrammetry and Terrestrial Laser Scanning for Detecting Geomorphological Changes in Hornsund, Svalbard
Previous Article in Special Issue
Microwave Brightness Temperature (MBT) Background in Bayan Har Block, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Its Importance in Searching for Seismic MBT Anomalies
 
 
Font Type:
Arial Georgia Verdana
Font Size:
Aa Aa Aa
Line Spacing:
Column Width:
Background:
Article

Assessing the Accuracy of MODIS MCD64A1 C6 and FireCCI51 Burned Area Products in Mediterranean Ecosystems

Laboratory of Forest Management and Remote Sensing, School of Forestry and Natural Environment, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, P.O. Box 248, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Remote Sens. 2022, 14(3), 602; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14030602
Submission received: 23 December 2021 / Revised: 18 January 2022 / Accepted: 25 January 2022 / Published: 27 January 2022
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Inauguration of Earth Observation for Emergency Management Section)

Abstract

The catastrophic impact of wildfires on the economy and ecosystems of Mediterranean countries in recent years, along with insufficient policies that favor disproportionally high funding for fire suppression, demand a more comprehensive understanding of fire regimes. Satellite remote sensing products support the generation of relevant burned-area (BA) information, since they provide the means for the systematic monitoring of large areas worldwide at low cost. This research study assesses the accuracy of the two publicly available MODIS BA products, MCD64A1 C6 and FireCCI51, at a national scale in a Mediterranean country. The research period covered four fire seasons, and a comparison was conducted against a higher-resolution Sentinel-2 dataset. The specific objectives were to assess their performance in detecting fire events occurring primarily in forest and semi-natural lands and to investigate their spatial and temporal uncertainties. Monthly fire observations were processed and analyzed to derive a comprehensive set of accuracy metrics. We found that fire size has an impact on their detection accuracy, with higher detection occurring in fires larger than 100 ha. Detection of smaller (<100 ha) fires was favored by the 250 m FireCCI51 product, but not from MCD64A1 C6, which exhibited less than 50% detection probability in the same range. Their spatial estimates of burned area exhibited a fairly satisfactory agreement with the reference data, reaching an average of 78% in detection rate. MCD64A1 C6 exhibited a more consistent spatial performance overall and better temporal accuracy, whereas FireCCI51 did not substantially outperform the former despite its finer resolution. Additional research is required for a more rigorous assessment of the variability of these burned area products, yet this research provides further insight and has implications for their use in fire-related applications at the local to the national scale.
Keywords: forest fires; Mediterranean; MODIS; validation; satellite burned-area products forest fires; Mediterranean; MODIS; validation; satellite burned-area products
Graphical Abstract

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Katagis, T.; Gitas, I.Z. Assessing the Accuracy of MODIS MCD64A1 C6 and FireCCI51 Burned Area Products in Mediterranean Ecosystems. Remote Sens. 2022, 14, 602. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14030602

AMA Style

Katagis T, Gitas IZ. Assessing the Accuracy of MODIS MCD64A1 C6 and FireCCI51 Burned Area Products in Mediterranean Ecosystems. Remote Sensing. 2022; 14(3):602. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14030602

Chicago/Turabian Style

Katagis, Thomas, and Ioannis Z. Gitas. 2022. "Assessing the Accuracy of MODIS MCD64A1 C6 and FireCCI51 Burned Area Products in Mediterranean Ecosystems" Remote Sensing 14, no. 3: 602. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14030602

APA Style

Katagis, T., & Gitas, I. Z. (2022). Assessing the Accuracy of MODIS MCD64A1 C6 and FireCCI51 Burned Area Products in Mediterranean Ecosystems. Remote Sensing, 14(3), 602. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14030602

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Back to TopTop