Multispectral Indices for Wildfire Management

TL;DR

This paper explores how multispectral aerial and satellite imagery, using specific indices like NVDI, MNDWI, and MSR, can improve wildfire monitoring, analysis, and management strategies.

Contribution

It evaluates the effectiveness of various multispectral indices for wildfire feature extraction and demonstrates their potential to enhance wildfire management practices.

Findings

NVDI effectively extracts vegetation features.

MNDWI is useful for water body detection.

MSR aids in identifying artificial structures.

Abstract

The increasing frequency and severity of wildfires necessitates advanced methods for effective surveillance and management, as traditional ground-based techniques often struggle to adapt to rapidly changing fire behavior and environmental conditions. This study investigates the use of multispectral aerial and satellite imagery for wildfire management through an assessment of current literature and two practical case studies. We evaluate several multispectral indices for their ability to extract environmental features critical for analyzing wildfire behavior, including vegetation, water bodies, and artificial structures. Our results highlight NVDI for vegetation, MNDWI for water features, and MSR for artificial structures as particularly effective for segmentation and feature extraction. The application of these indices enhances wildfire data processing and supports improved monitoring, risk assessment, and response strategies, demonstrating the potential of multispectral imagery to complement traditional wildfire monitoring and management approaches.