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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #331882
Title: A MODIS-based burned area assessment for Russian croplands: mapping requirements and challenges

Author
item HALL, J. - University Of Maryland
item LOBODA, T. - University Of Maryland
item McCarty, Gregory

Submitted to: Remote Sensing of Environment
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/15/2016
Publication Date: 12/15/2016
Citation: Hall, J., Loboda, T., McCarty, G.W. 2016. A MODIS-based burned area assessment for Russian croplands: mapping requirements and challenges. Remote Sensing of Environment. 184:506-521.

Interpretive Summary: Black carbon emissions associated with agricultural burning can be transported to the Arctic region and accelerate ice melting from increased light absorption. Although agricultural burning is banned in Russia it is still a widespread practice and the challenge in mapping cropland burning has led to a wide variety of burned area estimates. Accurately monitoring cropland burned area is an important task as these estimates are used in the calculation of cropland burning emissions, which are ultimately utilized in policy making decisions. In this paper we developed an independent estimate of cropland burning in Russia after evaluation of two global burned area products and a custom Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) based cropland regional area burned (CRAB) product that was calibrated specifically to agricultural burning. The analysis showed in general all three burned area products were unable to accurately map burn area associated with agricultural burning but that the CRAB algorithm provided improved results. This work demonstrated that the current coarse resolution satellite (MODIS) capabilities with sufficient return frequency are not adequate for mapping burned area. Great caution should be used when applying commonly used MODIS based burn area products for estimating agricultural burning. This study will help to inform policy makers about the uncertainties associated with satellite based agricultural burn estimates and will lead to greater awareness the role of cropland burning on Arctic ice melting and potential mitigation strategies.

Technical Abstract: Although agricultural burning is banned in Russia it is still a widespread practice and the challenge in mapping cropland burning has led to a wide range of burned area estimates. Accurately monitoring cropland burned area is an important task as these estimates are used in the calculation of cropland burning emissions, which are ultimately utilized in policy making decisions. In this paper we developed an independent estimate of cropland burning in Russia through assessing the capabilities of global burned area products (MCD45A1; Roy et al., 2008 and MCD64A1; Giglio et al., 2009) and our own custom Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) based cropland regional area burned (CRAB) product. An archive of cropland field state samples was generated from very high resolution (< 5 m) imagery allowing us a unique perspective into the challenges of mapping cropland burned area through detailed analysis of the Russian agricultural practices. The analysis showed all three burned area products were unable to map approximately 90% of burn validation samples with some improvement using CRAB. Our results show that the current coarse resolution (> 250 m) satellite capabilities are not adequate for accurately mapping burned area associated with agricultural fires. The transient nature of cropland burns and the climatological conditions of the region require multiple subsequent daily overpasses; however, the small spatial scale of the burns requires moderate (10 – 50 m) spatial resolutions. Future opportunities to accurately map cropland burned area may arise with the Sentinel-2 and Landsat constellation mission.