The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC review meeting, 14-15 April 2008

Use of NASA Assets for Predicting Wildfire Potential for Forest Environments in

Guatemala

Rapid Prototyping Capability Project

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC review meeting, 14-15 April 2008

Project team

Greg Easson & Laura JohnsonThe University of Mississippi

Bill Cooke & Rekha PillaiMississippi State University

David LewisInstitute for Technology Development Inc. at Stennis Space Center

Victor Hugo RamosNational Council for Protected Areas (CONAP), Guatemala

Collaborators

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC review meeting, 14-15 April 2008

Research Question

Can VIIRS data facilitate the development of a near real time forest fire potential decision support system in the tropics?

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008 1

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008 1

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008

MODIS Active Fire Product (SERVIR)

Fires in Mesoamerica

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008

Shifting from Fire Detection to Determining Fire Potential

• Detecting Active Fire• Bright spot

• Detecting Fire Potential• Vegetation moisture content

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008

Project Purpose

• To evaluate the potential of VIIRS data for monitoring vegetation moisture condition of tropical forests

1

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008

Project objectives

To determine how select MODIS and simulated VIIRS vegetation indices compare with Keetch Byram Drought Code (KBDI) values in significant and non-significant fire years

1

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008

Background

Fire potential is the susceptibility of a location to the ignition and spread of fire.

Factors include topography, vegetation type, fuel load, live and dead fuel moisture content, temperature, and humidity.

KBDI is most commonly used input for measuring fire potential

1

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC review meeting, 14-15 April 2008 1

Keetch Byram Drought Code (KBDI)

KBDI is a drought index

Current practice of computing KBDI from point source weather data and its manual interpolation across large areas is subject to uncertainties.

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008 1

MODIS, April 18, 2003

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008

Rationale Verbesselt et al (2007) found that SPOT based NDII

is better correlated with KBDI compared to NDVI. Anderson et al (2007) found MODIS-based EVI is

better correlated to KBDI than NDVI or NDWI Fensholt et al (2006) has shown that MODI- based

SIWSI performs better than NDWI and NDII in predicting canopy water stress

More work is needed to identify the MODIS based vegetation index is most closely correlated with KBDI; and no work as yet has been done using VIIRS data

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008

Vegetation indices

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index NDVI = NIR (band2) - Red (band1) / NIR + Red Enhanced Vegetation Index EVI = 2.5 x (NIR + Red) / [(NIR + 6) x (Red – 7.5) x (Blue (band3) +

1)]

Shortwave Infrared Water Stress Index SIWSI = NIR – SWIR2 (band 6) / NIR + SWIR2

1

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008

Study Area Mayan Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008 1

MODIS, April 18, 2003

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008

FIRE Potential

Weather

combustion model based on vegetation type

Slope

Vegetation Greenness

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008

Data requirements

Keetch Byram Drought Index (KBDI) Daily maximum temperatures Daily 24 hour rainfall

Time series vegetation indices from 2001 to 2005 MODIS NDVI 8-day 500 meter MODIS EVI 8-day 500 meter MODIS SIWSI 8-day 500 meter Simulated VIIRS NDVI 8-day 400 meter

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008

Methods Building a continuous KBDI for 1999 to 2005

Obtaining 8-day time series MODIS and simulated VIIRS data between 2001 to 2005

Graph NDVI, EVI, SIWSI and KBDI values for 2001 to 2005

Correlate the coefficients for the NDVI, EVI, SIWIS and KBDI

3

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008

Project Timeline

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008 2

1

Synthetic VIIRS NDVI – Surface Reflectance Based Products

Time SeriesProduct Tool

Application Research Toolbox

Filter Options

MedianSavitzky-Golay

Running Mean

TemporalProcessing

Daily Modis

Spatial OptionsN x N Mean

Median

Spatial

Quality Criteria• Scan Angle• Clouds• etc.

Spatial Synthesis to VIIRS GSD(~400 m)

Reprojection to Application Coordinates/Grid

Daily VIIRS NDVI from Surface Reflectance

Filtered VIIRS NDVI Time Series (from Surface Reflectance)

Model Noise Characteristics

Add Scene Geometry Effects

MOD09: (R,NIR)250m GSD

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008 1

Oct-99

Jun-0

0

Feb-01

Oct-01

Jun-0

2

Jan-0

3

Sep-03

May-04

Jan-0

5

Sep-05

May-06

Dec-06

Aug-07

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Date

KB

DI

KBDI 1999-2007

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008

5 x 5

NVDI Values

Date

ND

VI

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008

Project Outcomes & Expected Impacts

The University of Mississippi Geoinformatics CenterNASA MRC RPC Review Meeting: 14-15 April 2008

Greg Easson, Director UMGC

662 915 5995 geasson@olemiss.edu

Contact Information:

Laura Johnson research associate

662 915 5818 lj@olemiss.edu