DETECTION AND DELINEATION OF DEPTH OF SUBSURFACE COALMINE FIRES BASED ON AN AIRBORNE MULTISPECTRAL SCANNER SURVEY IN A PART OF THE JHARIA COALFIELD, INDIA

In India, active fires burning for quite a few decades in underground coal mines have created serious hazards to life and coal property. A daytime and predawn Multispectral Scanner Survey was conducted over the Jharia coalfield, Bihar, to detect and delineate subsurface fires. Pixel temperature data converted from digital number values were used to generate isothermal maps and temperature profiles along scan lines which were subsequently cross-checked with selective ground thermometric data. The anomalous zones of isothermal maps have been correlated with known fires and have also indicated possible fireprone areas.