Multispectral imagery is a widely used source of information to address post-fire ecosystem management. The
aim of this study is to evaluate the ability of remotely sensed indices derived from Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS to assess
initial burn severity (overall, on vegetation and on soil) in fire-prone pine forests along the Mediterranean-
Transition-Oceanic climatic gradient in the Mediterranean Basin. We selected four large wildfires which affected
pine forests in a climatic gradient within the Iberian Peninsula. In each wildfire we established CBI plots to
obtain field values of three burn severity metrics: site, vegetation and soil burn severity. The ability of 13
spectral indices to match these three field burn severity metrics was compared and their transferability along the
climatic gradient assessed using linear regression models. Specifically, we analysed the performance of 12 indices
previously used for burn severity assessments (8 reflective, 2 thermal, 2 mixed) and a new reflective index
(dNBR-EVI). The results showed that Landsat spectral indices have a greater ability to determine site and vegetation
burn severity than soil burn severity. We found large differences in indices performances among the
three different climatic regions, since most indices performed better in the Mediterranean and Transition regions
than in the Oceanic one. In general, the dNBR-EVI showed the best fit to site, vegetation and soil burn severity in
the three regions, demonstrating broad transferability along the entire climatic gradient.
ETS Ingenierías Agrarias Universidad de Valladolid - Avd. Madrid s/n
34004 - PALENCIA - Localización
www5.uva.es/etsiiaa/
INIA-CIFOR - Ctra. A Coruña km 7,5
28040 - MADRID - Localización
www.inia.es
Si deseas estar informado, apúntate a nuestro boletín electrónico.