• Remote Sensing Technology and Application
  • Vol. 40, Issue 2, 388 (2025)
Author Affiliations
  • Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100094, China
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    Abstract

    Burned area is an important parameter for global and regional carbon cycle and climate change research. Satellite remote sensing technology provides an effective way for rapidly obtaining the spatial distribution information of burned areas over large regions. Africa has the highest concentration of burned areas worldwide. Based on the GABAM burned area products from 2014 to 2020, this paper used the non-parametric Theil-Sen trend estimation and the Mann-Kendall (MK) trend significance test method to conduct research on changes of burned area in Africa. The study found that African burned areas are more densely distributed in savannah and sparse woodland areas between 10°N and 10°S. The trend in the area of burned areas in Africa from 2014 to 2020 is not significant, however, there is still a significant difference in the area of burned areas between the different years. Anomalies in meteorological factors (temperature, precipitation) due to extreme global climate events (El Ni?o, La Ni?a) can cause inter-annual variability in burned area. The comparative study of GABAM and MCD64 products showed that the MCD64 product was difficult to monitor the burnt areas of small and broken patches, resulting in a serious underestimation of the burned area, with an average underestimation of the burned area by 17.88%. The impacts of burning on vegetation NPP (Net primary productivity) in different vegetation regions (forests, savannas, and woodlands) were analyzed. The results showed that different types of vegetation had significant differences in recovery rate after fire. The research conclusions of this paper can provide reference for accurately monitoring of burned areas in large area and related fields of carbon cycle research.