Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Fires Detected by MODIS Data in Northern Iran From 2001 to 2008

Fire, a natural disaster, has significant effects on ecosystems and plays a major role in deforestation, and it is a major source of trace gases, aerosols and carbon fluxes. Remote sensing is a valuable data source to investigate different phases of fire management. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) has been designed to include specific characteristics for fire detection. It provides global coverage every 1 to 2 days. MODIS for forest fire monitoring has high detection accuracy, high radiometric resolution, moderate spatial resolution modes, and a high saturation level. Fires occur repeatedly in Iranian forests during the summer time. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports, 0.06% of Iran´s forests burn every year. Fire season in the northern part of Iran is from May until the end of October. The results show that 86.21% of the fires detected by MODIS from 2001 to 2008 occurred in cropland, grass land and plain regions. Most of these fires occurred in the eastern regions of the Mazandaran Sea. A correlation of 0.76 exists between the fire frequency and the rainfall. Areas with precipitation lower than 1000 mm experienced 86.01% of the fires. Most of the fires occurred at elevations below 500 m from mean sea level (MSL). The fire frequency has a correlation of 0.58 with the average monthly Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values. Temporal analysis from 2001 to 2008 shows that most of the fires occurred in June.