Analysis of Changes in NDVI Annual Cycle Models Caused by Forest Fire in Yangyang-gun, Gangwon-do Using Time Series of Landsat Images

Abstract

Sixty four percent of Korean territory consists of forest which is fragile for forest fire. However, it is difficult to detect the disaster-induced damages due to topographic complexity in mountainous areas and harsh weather conditions. For this reason, satellite imaging systems have been widely utilized to detect the damage caused by forest fire. In particular, ground vegetation condition can be estimated from multi-spectral satellite images and change detection technique has been used to detect forest fire damages. However, since Korea has clear four seasons, simple change detection technique has limitation. In this regard, this study applied the NDVI(normalized difference vegetation index) annual cycle modeling technique on time-series of Landsat images from 1991 to 2007 to analyze influence of forest fire of Yangyang-gun, Gangwon-do in 2005 on vegetation condition. The encouraging result was obtained when comparing the areas where forest fire occurs with non-damaged areas. The mean value of NDVI was decreased by 0.07 before and after the forest fire. On the other hand, annual variability of NDVI had been increasing and peak value of NDVI was stationary after the forest fire. It is interpreted that understory vegetation was seriously damaged from the forest fire occurred in 2005.