Use of satellite images for forest fires in area determination and monitoring

In Mediterranean climate regions, forest fires are quite common in summer months due to increases in air temperature. Reforestation of fire areas are a constitutional obligation in Turkey. Identification as well as the follow-up rehabilitation efforts can be carried out by remote sensing techniques in economic and practical ways. In the present study, the images from LANDSAT and ASTER satellites were used in the determination of areal extentions and levels of damages due to recent forest fires in October 2008 in Çanakkale Province of Turkey. Our findings are compared with the official forest fire records by Çanakkale Forest Administration Office. Potential use of satellite images and related image processing and GIS techniques in the past and present forest fire identification and rehabilitation efforts are discussed and their possible use in the application of recent forest law amendments (known as 2B) are evaluated.