AVHRR/NOAA DATA IN ESTIMATING AREAS OF LARGE FOREST FIRES

Abstract

The areas of the active zone of five large forest fires among those occurring in Irkutsk Oblast in 1996 and 1997 and the burned-over areas formed by them were determined using an Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) carried aboard satellites of the American NOAA series. Comparative estimates of the burned-over areas, determined using AVHRR (NOAA satellite) and MSU-SK (medium-resolution scanner) (Russian Federation Resurs satellite) imagery, were obtained.