Radiometric characterization of the infrared emission of forest fires has been performed for different primary carriers (grass, shrub, and slash) and different ambient conditions in a combustion tunnel (temperature, relative humidity and wind speed). Fourier Transform-based FTIR spectroradiometer (2.2 - 18 micrometer range) as well as a thermal camera have been used in the study. Also a 'classical' characterization, based on the fuel weight before and after the burn, and the measurement of soil and fire temperatures, has been made. Temperature profiles at different heights in different points of the heating zone have been measured by using an automatically controlled thermocouple network. The thermocouples measure the temperatures each 5 seconds in the 0 - 1200 degrees Celsius range. Parameters defining the fire behavior, mainly determined by the fuel consumption ratio, rate of spread, angle and length of flames, and the fire lineal intensity, are obtained from this characterization. Comparison between these results and the radiometric measurements has been done. Information from the camera is used to obtain infrared emissivities of the fires.

Date Published: 11 December 1998
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 3499, Remote Sensing for Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Hydrology, (11 December 1998); doi: 10.1117/12.332777

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 3499:
Remote Sensing for Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Hydrology
Edwin T. Engman, Editor(s)