GORS 14 - 2 Evaluation of forest fire damage and risk in northern Latakia during the crisis years using the Normalized Burn Ratio

Abstract

Abstract: The Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR), an indicator derived from satellite images, is widely used to map burnt areas and to assess the level of fire risk. In this study, 13 Landsat images were used during the period 2002-2017 to monitor the state of forests in northern Latakia. The NBR values for the studied period were calculated to determine the health status of the vegetation cover at the studied sites. Based on the values of the indicator, we calculated dNBR to extract burnt areas and estimate the level of fire risk. The results of this study showed a significant decrease in the values of the 2006 Scored NBR in Al-Bassit site, while the decrease was observed in 2014 for Al-Hafa site. The results of the spatial distribution of the fires showed that the fires were spread over large and continuous areas in the location of Al-Bassit, while the fires at Al-Hafa site were sporadic but more severe. The study concluded that it is important to use the NBR derived from remote sensing data to assess the risk of forest fires and to map fire boundary, and to monitor their recovery and rehabilitation stages.