Abstract:
Wild-land fires are a dynamic and destructive force in natural ecosystems. In
recent decades, fire disturbances have increased concerns and awareness over
significant economic loss and landscape change. The focus of this research allowed for
the utilization of Landsat 5 imagery, analysis software, and ground based methods to
study two northern California wild-land fires: Butte Humboldt Complex (BHC) and
Butte Lightning Complex (BLC) of 2008. Multi-temporal and NDVI satellite imagery
were used to visually assess levels of landscape change, under two temporal scales.
Visual interpretation indicated noticeable levels of landscape change and relevant
insight into the magnitude and impact of both wild-land fires. Satellite NDVI, local
temperature, and precipitation time-based (1998-2010) data were incorporated to contrast pre- and post-wild-land fire vegetation response and recovery. NDVI trends
may have been influenced by low precipitation, substrate flammability, and vegetation
accumulation. Statistical analysis using Coefficient of Determination R2 comparison of
satellite to ground based NDVI, resulted in weak linear correlations for BHC (R2 =
0.0859) and Richardson Springs (R2 = 0.3555), in contrast to a slightly negative
correlation for BLC (R2 = 0.001).
Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) and delta NBR data allowed for quantitative
analysis of burn severity levels. Delta NBR results indicated unburned, low severity,
and low re-growth for BHC “burned center” subplots. In contrast, delta NBR values for
BLC “burned center” subplots indicated low and mid to high burn severity levels.
Examination pre- and post-wild-land fire vegetation demonstrated potential for wildland
fires and associated influences to be detected by way of remote sensing
technology.
