Theses and Dissertations

Saranee Dutta

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Cooke III, William H.

Committee Member

Rodgers, John

Committee Member

Mishra, Deepak

Date of Degree

12-10-2010

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Open Access

Major

Geosciences

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Geosciences

Abstract

Based on wildfire data acquired from Mississippi forestry commission from 1991- 2005 approximately 4,000 wildfires occur in Mississippi each year, burning over 60,000 acres of forest and grassland. This study focuses on Mississippi’s wildfires from 1991- 2005 for the summer/fall period defined for this study as the May-November fire season. Statistical analysis indicates that there is significant correlation between vegetation indices derived from remotely sensed data and wildfire size at various time lag periods. Forest areas are correlated with vegetation indices at longer lag periods, nonorested areas are correlated at shorter lag periods. The inverse correlation between wildfire size and vegetation indices shows that vegetation greenness is an indicator of wildfire potential. This result can be implemented as management tool knowing that changes in vegetation vigor in certain areas of the state may increase wildfire potential in those areas and use of prescribed burnings may reduce the wildfire potential in those areas.

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/17257

Comments

GIS||Wildfire

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