Cloud cover correction of detected hotspots over Indonesia

Abstract

© 2015, American Scientific Publishers. All rights reserved. The presence of fires may be detected by space-based remote sensing. Fire detection algorithms allow fire “hotspots” to be mapped, providing information on fire extent, fire frequency and seasonal patterns of fire occurrence. However, fire can only be detected if the land is clearly visible from space. Cloud covering the land may obscure the satellite view and therefore the presence of fire cannot be observed. This phenomena will reduce the number of fire pixels detected by satellites from space. As a consequence, the number of fires or hotspots observed may be lower than the actual number of fires. We present a method to extrapolate the number of observed hotspots in Indonesia based on observations of cloud cover.