Coal fire quantification and detection using the DLR experimental bi-spectral infrared detection (BIRD) small satellite

Abstract

Coal fires cause severe environmental and economic problems worldwide. In the current paper we analyse the potential of the experimental bi-spectral infrared detection (BIRD) small satellite to register coal fire related spectral radiances and we present BIRD data acquired over two coal fire areas in Northern China. Based on field observations of coal fires in the investigated areas, we visually outline potential coal fire areas on BIRD data and apply the Bi-spectral technique [4] to estimate potential coal fire temperatures, sizes and radiative energy releases. We compare the BIRD derived quantitative coal fire parameters to field measurements from two field campaigns carried out in September 2003 and September 2003 in China. This study demonstrates that in particular BIRD night-time data have a high potential to register coal fires. The majority of the coal fire areas in the investigated coalfields can be clearly outlined on BIRD night-time data. In addition, BIRD derived coal fire temperatures correlate well with field observations indicating the high potential of the BIRD technology to derive physical meaningful coal seam fire parameters. The comparison of ETM and BIRD data reveals that the BIRD MIR spectral band is radiometrically more sensitive to coal fires than the ETM TIR spectral channel. However, the factor six higher spatial resolution of the ETM allows it to perform better than BIRD at night-time.