Validation of MODIS and AVHRR Fire Detections in Australia

Abstract

The Sentinel Bushfire Monitoring System is an internet-based mapping tool which provides timely spatial information to fire agencies across Australia. The mapping system allows users to identify active fire locations that pose a potential risk to communities and property. Sentinel at Geoscience Australia currently provides hotspot information derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) sensors on a continent-wide and daily basis enabling the fire community and general public to locate active fires. There has been little validation undertaken of the Sentinel since the system began operating in November 2002. Validation datasets have been collected for this work during the 2003-2007 fire seasons. Five study areas were selected to validate the detection capabilities of the MODIS and AVHRR hotspot product with fire activity that was mapped using high resolution earth observation imagery. The objective is to evaluate the reliability with which hotspots identified in MODIS and AVHRR thermal data can be used to identify fires. This consists of comparing the accuracy of AVHRR versus MODIS and quantifying the accuracy of both products. This objective is achieved by characterising errors through a stratified random sampling technique establishing a relationship between the ‘fire’ and ‘no fire’ condition, and error assessment using multi- source reference datasets over coincident MODIS and AVHRR pixels. The validation framework comprised two key approaches including validation of AVHRR hotspots in relation to MODIS hotspots and validation of both MODIS and AVHRR hotspots using multi-sensor earth observation imagery datasets. The study identified sources of errors associated with the Sentinel hotspots which could be used to improve the performance of hotspot algorithms and provide user-friendly information for the users. Statistical analysis revealed that overall commission errors of MODIS and AVHRR hotspots over the 5% sample data were 15% and 68% respectively, and overall omission errors of MODIS and AVHRR hotspots were 17% and 23% respectively.  An important outcome of this study is the production of a database of fire locations derived from high-resolution imagery, which can serve as a resource for future validation efforts as detection algorithms evolve and sensors change.