Firespots: The integrated monitoring system for biomass burning using SPOT images

Abstract

Large-scale biomass burning is a recurring phenomenon in South East Asia as the result of tradition al farming practice and modern-day industrial activity. Its damage to the environment and human life is so devastating that in certain season each year, traffics are disrupted, schools are closed in many countries around the region. Satellite imagery, SPOT 2/4 images in particular, provides a timely, panoram ic information with sufficient details for monitoring biomass burning on the ground. This daily operation on large amount of image data require intensive human efforts involving image browsing, fire and smoke identification, scene extraction, record keeping and result reporting. This paper provides an overview of the integrated monitoring system we have been developing for biomass burning using satellite im agery to satisfy the needs of our daily operation. Its aims at improving productivity of human operators with easy functionality extensions, such as database system for querying past fire patterns with time-location-size-classification parameters, online/offline reporting systems, and automatic fire/smoke detection.