Journal of Geography & Natural Disasters
Open Access
ISSN: 2167-0587
+44-20-4587-4809
ISSN: 2167-0587
+44-20-4587-4809
Christopher Potter
NASA Ames Research Center,
Mail Stop 232-21, Moffett Field, CA-94035
Tanzania
Research Article
Landscape Patterns of Burn Severity in the Soberanes Fire of 2016
Author(s): Christopher PotterChristopher Potter
The Soberanes Fire started on July 22, 2016 in Monterey County on the California Central Coast from an illegal campfire. This disastrous fire burned for 10 weeks at a record cost of more than $208 million for protection and control. A progressive analysis of the normalized burn ratio from the Landsat satellite showed that the final high burn severity (HBS) area for the Soberanes Fire comprised 22% of the total area burned, whereas final moderate burn severity (MBS) area comprised about 10% of the total area burned of approximately 53,470 ha (132,130 acres). The resulting landscape pattern of burn severity classes from the 2016 Soberanes Fire revealed that the majority of HBS area was located in the elevation zone between 500 and 1000 m, in the slope zone between 15% and 30%, or on south-facing aspects. The total edge length of HBS areas nearly doubled over the course of the event, ind.. View More»
DOI:
10.4172/2167-0587.S6-005