Remote sensing data for calibrated assessment of wildfire emissions in Siberian forests

Fire radiative power (FRP) method was adopted for evaluating of wildfires parameters under current conditions in Siberian forests. Long term Terra and Aqua/Modis data were used in spectral range 4, 10–12 μm. The study was carried out using the conjugate analysis of satellite data (1996–2017), ground survey data from the post-fire areas of different ages in the larch forests of Evenkia (Tura experimental station, Krasnoyarsk region, Russia) and in the pine forests of Near-Yenisey Siberia (Zotto experimental station, Krasnoyarsk region, Russia). The results of numerical simulation for burning characteristics were used also.

The main results are: 1) geospatial relationship of the forests burning (i.e. frequency, burned areas and fire intensity) and the anomalies of heat and moisture under current conditions in Siberia; 2) the first approximation of relation between the background temperature/ vegetation index (NDVI) variation and disturbance of the ground cover/ post-fire loads of forest fuels; 3) instrumental estimation for the area burnt under extreme intensity fire that is at least 8.5% of the annual average burned area; 4) the ratio of areas burnet by fire intensity/fire severity quintiles for calibrating the assessment of total biomass burned and emission calculating.

In the first approximation we expect to refine the amount of burned biomass in forests of Siberia by 7-20% of current assessment without the procedure of sub-classifying of area burnt.