Evaluation of the fire consequences with experimental fire by means of field spectro-radiometer

Abstract

Alteration of soil properties and destruction of vegetation cover are two important fire-induced consequences. At regional scale, remote sensing data appears suitable for monitoring post-fire processes. However, at ground-level, researchs about changes on reflectance values are necessary in order to know relationships between fire-induced environmental consequences and spectral reflectance values. In this way, measurements taken by means of field spectroradiometer provide useful information for describing these relationships. The main objective of this study is to characterize temporal patterns of reflectance values in an experimental fire and to analyze relationships between spectral reflectance values and fire-induced soils changes. A prescribed fire was carried out in two experimental plots and reflectance measurements were taken with a monthly frecuency by using a field spectro-radiometer. The collected data have shown that vegetation cover undergoes its greater change in the moment of fire, showing a stable behaviour after the fire in absence of recovery processes. On the other hand, soil is the cover with most important alterations in its behaviour from the post-fire situation due to the increase of erosion processes.