SERVIR continues to put resources into the hands of local experts through its newest partnership with regional Himalaya development organization ICIMOD. With supplemental resources from SERVIR, ICIMOD has increased capacity in its member states and developed a forest fire monitoring system based on satellite data.
Live Fuel Moisture Content Derived from Remote Sensing Estimates in Temperate Shrublands and Grasslands
The paper proposes a new approach to estimating live fuel moisture content, a key variable in fire danger assessment. Our proposed model uses an alternative inversion procedure based on the look-up table technique. The model outperforms already-published Mediterranean models in estimated moisure content in the temperate grassland and shrubland of Spain’s Eurosiberian ecosystem.
Public Participation in Remote Sensing (PPRS): Integration of Local Knowledge and Technology-Based Surface Temperature Change Monitoring
By Fatwa Ramdani Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan Expansion of oil palm plantations in Indonesia has contributed to a total forest loss of about 8 million hectares over the past 25 years. This expansion is attributable to the conversion of primary, secondary, or log forests. It is well-understood that land-cover changes influence the surface temperature on local, regional, and global scales. … Read More
Toxic Algae in Lake Erie
Originally Published by NASA -The waters of Lake Erie seem to glow green in this image taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on September 26, 2013.
The Fire Mappers
Climate change is contributing to larger wildfires and a longer fire season, making the need for near-real time and ultra-precise maps of fires more critical than ever. A team at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), in Boise, Idaho, (USA), is responding to that demand with new and better mapping technologies.
Exploiting Temporal Coherence for Fire Mapping from MODIS Spaceborne Observations
Noise from various sources, such as clouds, is present in satellite observations. This noise, as well as low contrast in satellite images, prevents automatic tools from processing each image independently. We developed an approach which processes all images simultaneously and enforces the constraint that the burned areas can only grow in time. This allows the exploitation of temporal information not available for a single image.
Wildfire Rapid Detection and Mapping and Post-fire Damage Assessment in Greece
The National Observatory of Athens (NOA) in Greece offers operational Earth Observation services for disaster management of forest wildfire. Dedicated systems offer stakeholders online access to robust, accurate and fully operational Web-based tools to assist their Emergency Response and Emergency Support actions.