The Impact of Spatial Resolution on Active Fire Monitoring Using Multispectral Satellite Imagery

Several studies have already evaluated the ability to identify wildfires and their characteristics by using NOAA-AVHRR and EO-MODIS images, which have adequate spectral bands for these targets, although with a spatial resolution limited to 1 km and a daily revisit time. In many cases, the latter features can limit the timely identification of a fire and the monitoring of its evolution. Conversely, sensors operating on geostationary platforms could acquire images within less than half an hour, yet still with a nominal spatial resolution of 1 km. In this study, we perform an analysis at different spatial resolutions of a sequence of OLI-Landsat-8 images referring to a natural fire that occurred near Massarosa, Tuscany, in July 2022. In particular, we investigate the potential of the SWIR bands, which are useful for monitoring high temperature wildfires. The results suggest that the use of sensors onboard a geostationary platform with relatively high nominal spatial resolution (of the order of 1 km) and frequent revisit time could enable the timely detection of fires and their monitoring.