GEOINFORMATION TOOLS PROVIDING ESTIMATIONS OF VEGETATION AREAL DAMAGES CAUSED BY WILD FIRE DISASTERS

Abstract. The object of this work is to develop web tools, which provide remote services necessary for disaster management purposes in domain of satellite Earth observation (EO) of vegetation areal, primarily forest or agricultural areas damaged by wild fires. The main idea for application of developed web tools is to provide targeted users with estimation instrument that allows not only to predict future or to detect existed perturbations in vegetation canopy but to estimate damage extent caused by disasters as well. To estimate damage extent of future possible disaster the developed services use historical data on vegetation canopy parameter both with hydrometeorology data on current weather conditions. Specialized EO data routines produce a set of products, which are required to make reliable prediction of possible damage extent subject to current weather conditions. In addition, the tools for estimation consequences of actual disaster event in vegetation areal are developed. In this case, special service compares actual state of vegetation canopy, which is retrieved from actual EO information, with historical information, which is extracted from special database that contains information on vegetation canopy status immediately before disaster event. This comparison allows not only to estimate the extent of actual damage but also to forecast disaster effects on future consequences, i.e. to estimate finally expected damage extent. Developed tools incorporate both forecasting and nowcasting possibilities to estimate damage extents. All necessary supporting services are implemented in active satellite data information system (IS) incorporated with long-term EO data archive. This incorporation allows upgrading possibilities of information system in disaster management support, namely in fast and reliable estimation of current and eventual damages.