The validation protocol of GBA2000 global burned area maps

This work presents a design-based validation and calibration scheme for the GBA2000 global burned area maps. The objective such an exercise is the assessment of the margins of uncertainty associated with the burned area maps and the estimation of the calibration coefficients for the conversion of the burned pixel counts into real estimates. Due to the large areal extent of the thematic maps to be validated, the reference data is obtained from Landsat 7 ETM+ medium resolution remotely sensed data. A novel sampling scheme has been introduced, specifically designed for the calibration and validation of fire-related data