A Statistical Analysis Of Forest Fire Frequency In The Western United States Using the MODIS Cumulative Fire Detection Algorithm

Abstract:

Fire products produced from data collected from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS) have been made available since 2001. The US Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications Center compiles the data from both MODIS platforms into a geo-referenced dataset for each year starting in 2001 for the continental United States. A statistical analysis of fire frequency over a 13-year period ending in 2013 displays shows a clear, systematic increase in the mean number of fires over this period. An interactive mapping interface being developed will allow for users to more easily perform numerous statistical analyses on archived fire data.