Towards automated fire monitoring from space: Semi-automated mapping of the January 1994 New South Wales wildfires using AVHRR data.

The Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) is capable of providing low cost thermal data in which wild-fires can easily be detected. Data are available for large areas (similar to 3000 x 6000 km) at-least 4 times a day, and can be received directly by the user. An automated hot-spot detection technique inserted into the data stream could therefore provide timely fire information for wild-fire monitoring. Such an automated technique is applied to AVHRR data acquired for the wild-fires which burnt extensive areas in New South Wales, Australia, during January 1994. The technique allows rapid production of fire maps. These revealed a number of major fires burning mainly within the National Parks, impacting on settlements and roads. Such a synoptic view of these fire events would be difficult to obtain using any other means.