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HERO ID
2572740
Reference Type
Journal Article
Title
Using multiple endmember spectral mixture analysis to retrieve subpixel fire properties from MODIS
Author(s)
Eckmann, TedC; Roberts, DarA; Still, CJ
Year
2008
Is Peer Reviewed?
1
Journal
Remote Sensing of Environment
ISSN:
0034-4257
Volume
112
Issue
10
Page Numbers
3773-3783
DOI
10.1016/j.rse.2008.05.008
Web of Science Id
WOS:000259798100004
Abstract
The Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectro radiometer (MODIS) sensors on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites image most of the Earth multiple times each day, providing useful data on fires that cannot be practically acquired using other means. Unfortunately, current fire products from MODIS and other sensors leave large uncertainties in measurements of fire sizes and temperatures, which strongly influence how fires spread, the amount and chemistry of their gas and aerosol emissions, and their impacts on ecosystems. In this study, we use Multiple endmember spectral mixture analysis (MESMA) to retrieve subpixel fire sizes and temperatures from MODIS, possibly overcoming some limitations of existing methods for characterizing fire intensities such as estimating the fire radiative power (FRP). MESMA is evaluated using data from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) to assess the performance of FRP and MESMA retrievals of fire properties from a simultaneously acquired MODIS image, for a complex of fires in Ukraine from August 21, 2002. The MESMA retrievals of fire size described in this paper show a slightly stronger correlation than FRP does to fire pixel counts from the coincident ASTER image. Prior to this work, few studies, if any, had used MESMA for retrieving fire properties from a broad-band sensor like MODIS, or compared MESMA to higher-resolution fire data or other measures of fire properties like FRP. In the future, MESMA retrievals could be useful for fire spread modeling and forecasting, reducing hazards that fires pose to property and health, and enhancing scientific understanding of fires and their effects oil ecosystems and atmospheric composition. (c) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords
fire; subpixel; size; MESMA; FRP; MODIS; ASTER
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