Fire Detection in a Varying Topography Using Landsat-8 for Nainital Region, India

Forest fires are the most frequent phenomenon during the summer season in India, and especially in the hilly terrains of Uttarakhand forests. Remote sensing sensors such as Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR), Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) with coarse spatial resolution on board different satellites were used to detect the forest fires across the world. Landsat-8 Operational Land Imager (OLI) data has the better spatial resolution (30m) as compared with the MODIS and VIIRS, therefore useful to detect the smaller fires. Nainital district in Uttarakhand state was severely affected by the massive forest fire events occurred during April-May, 2016. The main objective of the study is to identify the potential of Landsat-8 data in detecting the forest fire for varying topographic region like Nainital. Landsat-8 data acquired on 28
^th
April 2016 and 1
^st
May 2016 has been used in this study. The results obtained from Landsat-8 data are compared with the MODIS fire products and showed an improvement in the detection of small fires.