Mapping Wildfire Burned Areas Using VIIRS Data

[DavidFonsecaG]

Data Science Lifecycle Focus
This lesson will focus on data creation and data analysis, with an emphasis on acquiring and processing satellite data to map wildfire-affected areas.

Thematic Focus
The lesson will center on the analysis of wildfire burn areas using VIIRS data, focusing on events such as the 2023 Lahaina Wildfires and California’s wildfire seasons. The lesson will explore how Earth observation data can help assess the extent of damage caused by these natural disasters.

Key Takeaways

• Understand how to access and download VIIRS Burn Area data from NASA’s Earth observation databases.
• Learn how to preprocess and clean satellite data to prepare it for analysis.
• Gain hands-on experience in identifying and mapping burned areas using GIS tools and remote sensing techniques.
• Understand how to visualize the spatial extent of wildfires and interpret the data to assess damage.
• Learn the importance of satellite-based data in disaster response and management.
• Explore the connection between the spatial data and real-world wildfire events to draw conclusions about their impact.

[jfmartinez4]

In terms of data creation, you can create a burn area dataset and compare it to other data --population, buildings, critical infrastructure,-etc.- to quantify damages in other ways.

[cdeodati]

I think this is a good and relevant project idea. I would recommend narrowing the area of interest and including some additional variables that you might be interested in like air quality and the areas Juan mentioned above (population, buildings, etc.). You could also look at disaster response and wildfire susceptibility in these regions to get an in-depth analysis.