Process / pipelineFire Ecology
Burn Severity (dNBR)
Burn severity is a quantitative measure of fire-induced changes in vegetation and soil, assessed using satellite-based spectral indices. The Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) and its delta (dNBR) compare pre-fire and post-fire spectral reflectance in the near-infrared and shortwave-infrared bands to detect fire-caused vegetation damage and soil exposure. Developed by Key and Benson in 2006, dNBR has become the standard remote-sensing tool for rapid post-fire assessment and is used for emergency response, recovery planning, and ecological analysis.
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Sources
- Key, C. H., & Benson, N. C. (2006). Landscape Assessment (LA): Sampling and Analysis Methods. General Technical Report RMRS-GTR-164-CD, USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. link ↗
- Parks, S. A., Holsinger, L. M., Miller, C., & Parisien, M. A. (2019). Wildland-urban interface in the western U.S.: Spatial patterns and demographic transitions over time. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 124(3), 558–573. DOI: 10.1029/2018JG004822 ↗