Relating soil water measurements at fire disturbed sites in Alaska to ERS-1 SAR image signature

Studies of ERS-1 imagery have shown that fire scars in the Alaskan boreal forest are significantly (3-6 dB) brighter than surrounding unburned forest. Additionally, studies have shown that soil moisture increases in black spruce (Picea mariana [Mill.] B.S.P.) forests when fire disturbs the site, due...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inProceedings of IGARSS '94 - 1994 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium Vol. 1; pp. 246 - 248 vol.1
Main Authors French, N.H.F., Kasischke, E.S., Bourgeau-Chavez, L.L., Harrell, P.A., Christensen, N.L.
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published IEEE 1994
Subjects
Area measurement
Ecosystems
Fires
Remote monitoring
Remote sensing
Satellites
Soil measurements
Soil moisture
Synthetic aperture radar
Vegetation mapping
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Summary:Studies of ERS-1 imagery have shown that fire scars in the Alaskan boreal forest are significantly (3-6 dB) brighter than surrounding unburned forest. Additionally, studies have shown that soil moisture increases in black spruce (Picea mariana [Mill.] B.S.P.) forests when fire disturbs the site, due to changes in evapotranspiration rates and changes in the ground permafrost conditions. The purpose of this study was to relate soil water content at six fire scars in interior Alaska to ERS-1 SAR backscatter measurements. Results show that for younger burns (<4 yrs) a positive linear relationship exists between measured soil water and radar cross-section. Results from older burns do not indicate this relationship.< >
ISBN:0780314972
9780780314979
DOI:10.1109/IGARSS.1994.399094