Advances in Remote Sensing and GIS applications in Forest Fire Management From local to global assessments

Preface

The importance of wildfires as a natural or a human-induced phenomenon has gained importance at regional and global levels in the last years. Improved remote sensing and computational capabilities enable the fast processing of large image datasets in real time. As a result, remote sensing and geographic information systems are today, more than ever before, common tools for fire monitoring at local, regional and global levels. However, the gap between research and operational use of remote sensing and GIS still exists.

The complexity in automating pre-processing and posterior classification of remotely sensed imagery poses a great problem for wildfire and civil protection managers. It is thus the duty of the remote sensing community to develop systems and tools that facilitate the access to information of forest fires to these managers. The EARSeL Special Interest Group (SIG) on Forest Fires actively promotes the integration of these advanced technologies in the day-to-day of forest managers at all scales, embracing researchers, local governments and global organizations. 

In this context the EARSeL SIG on Forest Fire is happy to organize the VIII EARSeL Workshop on “Remote Sensing of Forest Fires: From Local to Global Assessments.” This conference will thus bring together remote sensing communities that work at local level with those working at the global level. Although these communities have a common goal, the monitoring of forest fires, they approach the issue in very diverse ways. 

The Stresa Workshop builds upon the success obtained in previous workshops held since the foundation of the EARSeL SIG on Forest Fires in 1995. These took place in Alcalá de Henares (1995), Luso (1998), Paris (2001), Ghent (2003), Zaragoza (2005), Thessaloniki (2007) and Matera (2009), and provided a great impulse for the progress in forest fire research.  

The Proceedings book includes papers divided in 4 sections which focus on the following topics:

I- Local to regional applications of remote sensing in pre and during fire conditions
II- Local to regional applications of remote sensing in post-fire assessment
III- National to global applications of remote sensing in pre and during fire conditions
IV- National to global applications of remote sensing in post-fire assessment

Advances in Remote Sensing and GIS applications in Forest Fire Management