Impact of Land Cover Change Induced by a Fire Event on the Surface Energy Fluxes Derived from Remote Sensing

Remote Sensing

Juan M. Sánchez¹  Mar Bisquert¹  Eva Rubio⁴  Vicente Caselles³  Gabriel Senay²  Parth Sarathi Roy² 

[1] Applied Physics Department, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Campus University,16071 Cuenca, Spain; E-Mail:;Applied Physics Department, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Campus University,16071 Cuenca, Spain; E-Mail;Earth Physics and Thermodynamics Department, University of Valencia, C/Dr. Moliner 50, 46100 Burjassot, Spain; E-Mail:;Applied Physics Department, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Avda. España s/n, 2071 Albacete, Spain; E-Mail:

关键词: surface energy fluxes;    forest fire;    land cover change;    Landsat;    evapotranspiration;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rs71114899

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Forest fires affect the natural cycle of the vegetation, and the structure and functioning of ecosystems. As a consequence of defoliation and vegetation mortality, surface energy flux patterns can suffer variations. Remote sensing techniques together with surface energy balance modeling offer the opportunity to explore these changes. In this paper we focus on a Mediterranean forest ecosystem. A fire event occurred in 2001 in Almodóvar del Pinar (Spain) affecting a pine and shrub area. A two-source energy balance approach was applied to a set of Landsat 5-TM and Landsat 7-EMT+ images to estimate the surface fluxes in the area. Three post-fire periods were analyzed, six, seven, nine, and 11 years after the fire event. Results showed the regeneration of the shrub area in 6–7 years, in contrast to the pine area, where an important decrease in evapotranspiration, around 1 mm·day⁻¹, remained. Differences in evapotranspiration were mitigated nine and 11 years after the fire in the pine area, whereas significant deviations in the rest of the terms of the energy balance equation were still observed. The combined effect of changes in the vegetation structure and surface variables, such as land surface temperature, albedo, or vegetation coverage, is responsible for these variations in the surface energy flux patterns.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.