Using Earth Observations to Measure Hydrological Conditions Before, During, and After Wildfires in the Feather River Watershed
The Feather River Watershed is home to the 2018 Camp Fire (California's deadliest wildfire), the 2020 North Complex Fire, and the 2021 Dixie Fire (California's largest single wildfire by area). Overall, these three fires combined to burn over 1.4 million acres of landȁ...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IEEE
2024-01-01
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| Series: | IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10460070/ |
| _version_ | 1797238849837989888 |
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| author | Avery Walters Bin Fang Venkataraman Lakshmi |
| author_facet | Avery Walters Bin Fang Venkataraman Lakshmi |
| author_sort | Avery Walters |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Feather River Watershed is home to the 2018 Camp Fire (California's deadliest wildfire), the 2020 North Complex Fire, and the 2021 Dixie Fire (California's largest single wildfire by area). Overall, these three fires combined to burn over 1.4 million acres of land—more than 60% of the Feather River Watershed's 2.3-million-acre area. Such exceptional wildfire activity is a reason for further studies. Our research proposes analyzing satellite data from the Feather River Watershed to measure the hydrological effects of such widespread wildfires over a period of four years. This study aims to study these wildfires using monthly observations of the major hydrological conditions [i.e., precipitation, soil moisture, vegetation index, and evapotranspiration (ET)] between 2015 and 2022. A 1-km remotely sensed dataset was used to study the spatial and temporal variability in soil moisture. Additionally, visible and infrared imagery were used to outline and analyze wildfire burn scars. Results of the study show that surface soil moisture maxima increase after wildfires due to a decrease in vegetation index and ET. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T17:42:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d166d8128f634f6eaa8a2684df9ddde0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2151-1535 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T17:42:11Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-d166d8128f634f6eaa8a2684df9ddde02024-03-27T23:00:07ZengIEEEIEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing2151-15352024-01-01176972698510.1109/JSTARS.2024.337335810460070Using Earth Observations to Measure Hydrological Conditions Before, During, and After Wildfires in the Feather River WatershedAvery Walters0https://orcid.org/0009-0002-6921-4376Bin Fang1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0448-7616Venkataraman Lakshmi2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7431-9004Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USADepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USADepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USAThe Feather River Watershed is home to the 2018 Camp Fire (California's deadliest wildfire), the 2020 North Complex Fire, and the 2021 Dixie Fire (California's largest single wildfire by area). Overall, these three fires combined to burn over 1.4 million acres of land—more than 60% of the Feather River Watershed's 2.3-million-acre area. Such exceptional wildfire activity is a reason for further studies. Our research proposes analyzing satellite data from the Feather River Watershed to measure the hydrological effects of such widespread wildfires over a period of four years. This study aims to study these wildfires using monthly observations of the major hydrological conditions [i.e., precipitation, soil moisture, vegetation index, and evapotranspiration (ET)] between 2015 and 2022. A 1-km remotely sensed dataset was used to study the spatial and temporal variability in soil moisture. Additionally, visible and infrared imagery were used to outline and analyze wildfire burn scars. Results of the study show that surface soil moisture maxima increase after wildfires due to a decrease in vegetation index and ET.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10460070/Feather River Watershedhydrologyremote sensingwildfire |
| spellingShingle | Avery Walters Bin Fang Venkataraman Lakshmi Using Earth Observations to Measure Hydrological Conditions Before, During, and After Wildfires in the Feather River Watershed IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing Feather River Watershed hydrology remote sensing wildfire |
| title | Using Earth Observations to Measure Hydrological Conditions Before, During, and After Wildfires in the Feather River Watershed |
| title_full | Using Earth Observations to Measure Hydrological Conditions Before, During, and After Wildfires in the Feather River Watershed |
| title_fullStr | Using Earth Observations to Measure Hydrological Conditions Before, During, and After Wildfires in the Feather River Watershed |
| title_full_unstemmed | Using Earth Observations to Measure Hydrological Conditions Before, During, and After Wildfires in the Feather River Watershed |
| title_short | Using Earth Observations to Measure Hydrological Conditions Before, During, and After Wildfires in the Feather River Watershed |
| title_sort | using earth observations to measure hydrological conditions before during and after wildfires in the feather river watershed |
| topic | Feather River Watershed hydrology remote sensing wildfire |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10460070/ |
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