Forest fire monitoring and assessment using remote sensing

The frequency and severity of forest fires, coupled with changes in spatial and
temporal precipitation and temperature patterns, are likely to severely affect the
characteristics of forest and permafrost patterns in boreal eco-regions. Forest fires, however,
are also an ecological factor in how forest ecosystems form and function, as they affect the
rate and characteristics of tree recruitment. A better understanding of fire regimes and forest
recovery patterns in different environmental and climatic conditions will improve the
management of sustainable forests by facilitating the process of forest resilience. Remote
sensing has been identified as an effective tool for preventing and monitoring forest fires, as
well as being a potential tool for understanding how forest ecosystems respond to them.
However, a number of challenges remain before remote sensing practitioners will be able to
better understand the effects of forest fires and how vegetation responds afterward. This
article attempts to provide a comprehensive review of current research with respect to
remotely sensed data and methods used to model post-fire effects and forest recovery
patterns in boreal forest regions.
The review reveals that remote sensing-based monitoring of
post-fire effects and forest recovery patterns in boreal forest regions is not only limited by the
gaps in both field data and remotely sensed data, but also the complexity of far-northern fire
regimes, climatic conditions and environmental conditions. We expect that the integration of
different remotely sensed data coupled with field campaigns can provide an important data
source to support the monitoring of post-fire effects and forest recovery patterns.
Additionally, the variation and stratification of pre- and post-fire vegetation and
environmental conditions should be considered to achieve a reasonable, operational model
for monitoring post-fire effects and forest patterns in boreal regions.

Earth observation data and information dissemination tools

in support of carbon forestry

Earth observation is diversifying, and now includes new types of systems, such as citizen
observatories, unmanned aerial vehicles and wireless sensor networks. However, the Copernicus
Programme vision of a seamless chain from satellite data to usable information in the hands of
decision makers is still largely unrealized, and remote sensing science lacks a conceptual
framework to explain why. This paper reviews the literatures on citizen science, citizen
observatories and
conceptualization of remote sensing systems. It then proposes a Conceptual Framework for Earth
Observation which can be used in a new Earth observation science to explain blockages in the
chain from collecting data to disseminating information in any Earth observation system,
including remote sensing systems. The framework differs from its predecessors by including
social variables as well as technological and natural ones. It is used here, with evidence from
successful citizen science projects.To compare the factors that are likely to influence the
effectiveness of satellite remote sensing systems and citizen observatories. The paper finds that
constraints on achieving the seamless Copernicus Chain are not solely technical, as assumed in
the new Space Strategy for Europe, but include social constraints too. Achieving the Copernicus
Chain will depend on the balance between: (a) the forward momentum generated by the
repetitive functioning of each component in the system, as a result of automatic operation or
human institutions, and by the efficiency of interfaces between components; and (b) the
backward flow of information on the information needs of end users. Citizen observatories will
face challenges in components which for satellite remote sensing systems are: (a) automatic or
straightforward, e.g., sensor design and launch, data collection, and data products; and (b) also
challenging, e.g., data processing. Since citizen observatories will rely even more on human
institutions than remote sensing systems to achieve repetitive functioning,
one of their greatest strengthsusing a crowd of hand-held sensors to cover large areas
could also be one of their greatest weaknesses