Experience with Using Geoinformation Data in the Evaluation of Post-Fire Vegetation Coverage Restoration

Abstract

The purpose of the work was to consider the possibilities of using vegetation indices in assessing the prospects of reforestation in the burnt areas. Materials and methods. The studies were based on the results of monitoring expeditionary observations in the pine forests of the Badary area of the Tunkinskii National Park after the fires that took place in 2010 and covered a third of the territory. For the period 2014-2020, the specificity of the species composition of the forest stand, shrub layer, and living ground cover was studied. The correlation of the formed geobotanical database with the NDVI and EVI vegetation indices obtained from processing medium spatial resolution geoinformation materials is considered. Vegetation index values were selected corresponding to the date of field research, as well as values for the control dates of the winter period and the periods of the beginning, middle, and end of the vegetation phases. Results and discussion. The resulting array of data made it possible to identify the features of the dynamics of the NDVI and EVI indicators both in space and in time. In the burnt areas in the period 2010-2019, a fluctuation of the values of vegetation indices was noted in almost every seasonal group, which correlates with geobotanical parameters that have upward data dynamics. In forests that were not affected by fires, and thus were in stable ecological conditions, the NDVI and EVI indices remained stable or had little fluctuation. It was noted that NDVI is characterised by overestimation of values, especially during the peak of vegetation; EVI values are more reliable. Conclusion. Multi-temporal analysis showed that both field data and NDVI and EVI indicators indicate the success of reforestation processes. However, the study of the values of vegetation indices cannot be considered an independent source of information in the assessment of demutation processes.