A practical example of remote sensing application in the management of natural hazards : cartography and urgent evaluation of burned aresas in Galicia

Abstract

This paper presents an example of potential uses of remote sensing (RS) data to provide operational information for natural hazards management. It shows how RS was used to provide update information to evaluate the impacts of a large sequence of forest fires that took place in Galician in August 2006. Through visual interpretation of both AQUA/ TERRA-MODIS images, with 250 and 500 m spatial resolution, fire affected zones were mapped and burn severity levels were estimated. Images from IRS-AWiFS sensor with higher spatial resolution (60 m) were used as well to evaluate and map burned areas with higher accuracy. The information generated from satellite data was disseminate to fire managers, researchers and general public through a web site using a map server which was designed specifically for this purpose.