DETECTION AND MONITORING OF FOREST FIRES IN CHINA THROUGH THE ENVISAT-AATSR SENSOR

摘要

Up until now, the polar satellites most widely used for detection tasks have been the NOAA-AVHRR, the EOS-MODIS and the European sensor ATSR-2. In March 2002, the ESA put into orbit the ENVISAT satellite allowing us to put the advanced sensor AATSR (Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer) into operation. It must be pointed out its characteristics for fire observation, detection and monitoring have already been made clear by its predecessors ATSR-1 and ATSR-2. The present work has a double aim. On the one hand, to carry out an exhaustive analysis of the AATSR sensor's response to the variation of different parameters which are difficult to quantify in real time and for each point in the territory according to the potential characteristics that the fire observed has. On the other hand, to apply the detection and monitoring techniques to fires that occurred in the northern regions of China, where the environmental conditions are different from the ones existing in Mediterranean Europe.