RAPID FIRE DETECTION IN MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA Bart Wickel Gerardo Lopez Ma. Isabel Cruz Erik de Badts Raúl Jimenez Rosenberg Comisión nacional para el conocimiento y uso de la biodiversidad
Organization RAPID FIRE DETECTION IN MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA National commission for study and use of biodiverstity (CONABIO) Founded in 1992 as a presidential advisory commissionon biodiversity After the desastrous fire year 1998 National program for protection against wildfire in cooperation with Forest Service, Natural Resources Commission
RAPID FIRE DETECTION IN MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA Situation in Mexico Problem Severe wild fires in El Niño year 1998 2000-2004 : 7533 wildfires; 196,972 ha affected ann. Causes Agricultural activity, 43% Intentional, 21% Accidental, 31 % Other, 5 % Number of reported fires 10000 9000 8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 Number of fires Affected area 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Year 400000 350000 300000 250000 200000 150000 100000 50000 0 Total affected area (ha) Affected vegetation Pasture 40% Shurb and woodland 41% Forests 19 % Source CONAFOR 2005
RAPID FIRE DETECTION IN MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA Program development DMSP Automization of the program Hot spot detection with AVHRR and MODIS Publication for Guatamala Costa Rica El Salvador 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Start hot spot detection with AVHRR and same day publication Increase in response time Publication for Guatamala Implementation of other sensors Publication for entire central america
RAPID FIRE DETECTION IN MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA Spatial and temporal coverage Characteristics 8 MODIS and 2 AVHRR pases per day Terra / Aqua MODIS reception, Mexico City Processing time ~1 hour Satellite Local time 2:30 NOAA16 3:25 TERRA 10:30 TERRA 12:00 AQUA 13:30 AQUA 15:00 NOAA12 16:31 TERRA 22:00 TERRA 20:30 Night AQUA Day 1:00 Night AQUA
RAPID FIRE DETECTION IN MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA Processing Field information Reception Pre-processing TeraScan MODIS and AVHRR images Real fires MOD14 Automatic e-mail Aditional information information chain Mask application Detection of Hot spots GIS States Municipalities Vegetation Protected areas Information on the web Information tables Elimination of points Volcanoes, mines Stable lights Water bodies Daily Products Fire maps Dynamic map
RAPID FIRE DETECTION IN MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA Products www.conabio.gob.mx Quicklook images Report tables Shape files Dynamic fire maps Detailed local maps with DEM Hot spot images EVI images
User feedback RAPID FIRE DETECTION IN MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA Survey among data product users in 2003 from 6 institutions in Mexico Results Users with internet service 90 % Users that receive information of hot-spots by e-mail 66 % Information has contributed to improve fire managment 83 % 40% agreement bewteen MODIS and attended fires Main suggestions Improve processing time More detailed information on fire location Training in use of GIS fire products
RAPID FIRE DETECTION IN MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA Central America USAID workshop Managua, Nicaragua January 2004 Request for a rapid fire detection system for CA Technology transfer Training courses Products (< 2hrs) Dynamic fire maps Quicklook images Detailed local maps Report tables Shape files E-mail alert system
Future activities RAPID FIRE DETECTION IN MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA Mexico NDVI anomaly mapping Fire scar/burned area mapping using SPOT images Knowledge transfer in national courses DLR antenna Chetumal providing ENVISAT, ASAR, ERS, MODIS, Landsat South American cooperation RedLAtif burned area validation Technology transfer to Bolivia International courses: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama