Use of Remote Sensing in Developing a Forest Fire Occurrence Management System

在加拿大，森林火灾是一种严重的干扰。在过去的25年里，平均每年发生8300起火灾。每年平均有230万公顷的森林被烧毁。虽然火在肥沃土壤养分、杀灭病虫害、更新森林等方面有一定的优势，但它也造成了相当大的不利影响。这些损失包括：(I)因烧毁火场附近的树木和物业而造成的经济损失；(Ii)增加大气中的二氧化碳含量；(Iii)因空气质素恶化而危害健康；及(Iv)在扑灭大火时可能造成的人命损失。此外，在过去十年中，加拿大每年平均花费5亿至10亿加元用于灭火。因此，开发一个有效的森林火灾发生管理系统对于制定可持续的火灾管理战略以抵消不利影响至关重要。在这方面，目的是利用卫星平台获得的遥感数据(以数字图像的形式)，这些平台能够定期收集大片地理区域的信息。

In Canada, forest fire is a critical disturbance. In the last 25 years, there have been on average 8300 fires annually. Each year on average 2.3 million hectares of forest have been burned. Though fire brings some advantages in enriching soil nutrients, killing insects and diseases, regenerating forests; however, it causes a significant amount of detrimental impacts. Those include: (i) economic loss due to burning of the trees and properties nearby the fire locations; (ii) increasing the carbon dioxide loading in the atmosphere; (iii) health hazard through air quality deterioration; and (iv) possible loss of human life in fighting large fires, among others. Also, every year on average Canada has spent CAD $500 million to $1 billion in fighting fires during the last decade. Thus, development of an efficient forest fire occurrence management system is crucial to develop sustainable fire management strategies in order to offset the adverse impacts. In this context, the intent is to use remote sensing data (in the form of digital imagery) acquired by the satellite platforms capable of gathering information over a large geographic area periodically.