Uncertainty assessment of remote sensing- and ground-based methods to estimate wildfire emissions: a case study in Calabria region (Italy)

This study highlights a reliable agreement of time evolution of Burned Areas (R2 =  0.87), but an overestimation of their extent by satellite compared to ground observations (approximately + 18%). Nevertheless, satellite data systematically underestimated Dry Matter and emissions by forest and grassland wildfires (ranging between -66% and -97%). Furthermore, detailed informati on on land cover allowed assessing the vegetation parameters uncertainties on ground-based emission inventory. The Mass Available Fuel values, which are constantly modified by wildfires, and land use changes, and not frequently updated, showed not to affect the emission estimations. Finally, the rel ationship between ground-based and remote sensing-based inventories for the analyzed period highlighted that the preliminary satellite emissions related to 2017–2019 require careful validation before any applications.
Source: Air Quality, Atmosphere and Health - Category: Environmental Health Source Type: research