Detection and Monitoring of Forest Fires in China Through the Envisat-AATSR Sensor

The detection of forest fires through the ATSR sensor on board the ERS European satellites has been widely studied and analyzed on European and African territories. Putting the ENVISAT satellite in orbit has allowed us to bring the AATSR sensor (Advanced Along Track Scaning Radiometer) into operation, whose spectral and radiometric capacities are very advanced with respect to its predecessor. This sensor has raised high expectations in relation with the statistical global results of fire occurrence. However, the existing algorithm parameters need to be revised and modified for new territories that have different forest cover characteristics from the ones that have already been studied and validated. In this paper, we present an analysis on fires occurred on the north-east of China during 2002 and 2003 in order to adjust the detection algorithms to the new environmental conditions. The Remote Sensing Laboratory of the University of Valladolid is leader in the forest fires group in the DRAGON project, which is financed by the ESA in collaboration with the Science and Technology Ministry of the Popular Republic of China. The present paper is part of this work.