Comparison of ERS-2 and JERS for fire impact assessment in tropical rainforests

In 1997/98 Indonesia has experienced one of the greatest fire disasters ever observed in a tropical rainforest environment in SE-Asia. Following this event ESA and NASDA decided to set up a cooperation project to compare and combine the capabilities of the two SAR satellite sensors systems ERS-1/2 and JERS-1 aiming at an in depth analysis of this disaster. It was investigated whether these SAR systems can provide high resolution data on the pre-fire vegetation cover, the extent of the fire affected area and the damage to the vegetation. The results of the evaluation were quantitatively compared to a Landsat TM scene acquired during the fires and extensive field and aerial surveys.