A case study for Skukuza: Estimating biophysical properties of fires using EOS-MODIS satellite data

Abstract

Biomass burning in Africa, explicitly in Southern Africa, contributes excessively to the annual aerosol loading and pyrogenic gas emissions within the African atmospheric system. The frequency of burning and the area size of burned areas in Southern Africa (wildfires in Southern Africa account for 35% of global annual fire biomass fuel consumptions) makes South Africa a key and suitable investigation area for fire related research. Research regarding the fire effects on ecosystem function, the development of spatial fire monitoring mechanisms and fire management in protected areas is necessary to develop and improve and analyse models that predict regional pyrogenic emissions. Spatial fire information from remote sensing can be used as tool to rigorously and effectively detect and analyse biomass fuel available for burning, fire count locations as well as fire severity. This dissertation was accomplished within the context of the 2000 Southern Africa Regional Science (SAFARI-2000) Initiative, using the Kruger National Park in South Africa as a casestudy savanna ecosystem. Methods to analyse pre-burn biomass fuel loads, spatially explicit algorithms to detect fire severity and fire scar mapping and detection methods, using Landsat ETM+ and MODIS satellite imagery, were developed. The applicability of these methods and algorithms to effectively improve regional emissions models and fire management practices in protected areas are shown. The new methods developed within the context of this dissertation may be applicable to similar savanna ecosystems. This dissertation could be completed successfully and thankfully with the support of the Gottlieb Daimler and Karl-Benz Foundation, South African Research Institutions (CSIR Environmentek) and the University of Goettingen in Germany.