A User-Oriented Simplification of the ( $V,W$ ) Burn-Sensitive Vegetation Index System

Remote sensing from spaceborne sensors combining near- and middle-infrared information has proved to be an efficient means to monitor the effects of vegetation fires. Burn-sensitive spectral indices, such as the (V, W) index system, have been developed and successfully applied for burned area discrimination. The (V, W) index system provides useful capability to discriminate burned pixels, but the elaborate numerical computations involved are a major drawback in operational applications. This letter presents a simplified algorithm to compute the approximate values of indices V and W. The methodology developed is tested in a region located in the Brazilian Cerrado using remote-sensed data from the MODIS instrument. The simplification allows performing burned area discrimination with the same quality as the original algorithm. The methodology may be extended to other sensors and different combinations of bands and opens new perspectives to the generation of synergic longterm databases of burned area.