Molns inverkan på satellitdetektion av vegetationsbränder i Sverige

Sammanfattning: Results are presented from the 2021 test run of active fire detection using the Visual Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument, that is currently onboard the polar satellites Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20. The test is performed by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency and the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, in cooperation with local fire departments in Sweden. The aim of this report was to study the impact of clouds on the ability of active fire detection, as well as to identify objects that potentially can cause commission errors in the VIIRS 375 m active fire algorithm (false positive notifications). Also, the study aimed to investigate what may cause omission errors in the algorithm, and to show to what extent the detections can be used to represent the true time development of the wildfire front and burned area. Using a cloudmask and a cloudtype classification product from Nowcasting Satellite Application Facilities (NWC SAF), the impact of clouds was anlalyzed by comparing the cloud data with the obtained fire notifications from the satellites. Active fires and newly burned areas were also studied using Sentinel-2 imagery, specifically the False Color Urban and the Short Wave Infrared (SWIR) RGB composites, as well as images from the 842 nm band, making use of the relatively high spatial resolution as well as the spectral signatures of fire and newly burned vegetation. Detection of active fires occurred in both cloud free and completely cloud covered conditions. How-ever, roughly 70% of the detected vegetation fire pixels were obtained in conditions with 20% clouds or less.