Forest Fire Characterization Using Landsat-8 Satellite Data in Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary.

ABSTRACT

A forest fire has caused a loss of biodiversity and forest heterogeneity and resulted in forest degradation and fragmentation. Remote sensing techniques have been widely used for locating and delineating forest fires. The present study has employed Landsat-8 satellite data during 2014-2020 for spatiotemporal analysis of forest fire in Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary (DWS). Normalized burn ratio (NBR) has been used to delineate forest fire-affected locations along with visual interpretation techniques. The results showed that an extensive area was burnt and deforested due to forest fire in DWS during 2014-2020. The burned areas due to forest fires within the notified forest boundary in DWS were 12.11 km2, 25.5 km2, 22.45 km2, 9.11 km2, 24.44 km2, 10.09 km2, and 1 km2 during 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, respectively, whereas burned areas outside notified boundary were 2.24 km2, 4.15 km2, 1.48 km2, 3.29 km2, 3.31 km2, 1.9 km2, and 0.1 km2. According to visual image interpretation, the highest burned area was found in 2015 (25.5 km2), whilst the least affected was found in 2020 (1 km2), and fires were mainly seen in the degraded forests and open forest regions. The present study revealed that forest fire is more dominant in Asanbani, Pardih, Bhelaipahari, Gobargushi, Bamri, Andharjhor, Somadih, Koira, Tetla, Bochkamkocha, Sah, Rbera, and Jamdih locations/beats in DWS. Thereby, these forest beats need attention from forest managers to control fire-mediated forest degradation for the conservation and restoration of forests in DWS.