Enhancement of fire spread modelling using high-resolution remotely sensed data

The thesis provides methods and knowledge to integrate fuel estimations from Landsat Earth Observing satellites into operational fire behaviour forecasts. A new spectral index sensitive to fuel load and structure based on the shortwave infrared radiation is proposed and tested in southern Australian environments, the Vegetation Structure Perpendicular Index (VSPI). Then, the index is used to estimate the stage of recovery of previously burnt forests. The recovery stage is lastly used as a proxy for fire danger in fire propagation simulations.