Towards Understanding The Spatial Relationship Of Land Cover Thermal Anomalies And Anthropogenic Features On The Siberian Landscape.

Fires are a common occurrence in the Siberian boreal forest. The Thermal anomalies product of the Terra MODIS product suite is designed to detect thermal anomalies (i.e. hot spots) on the Earth's surface. In most cases hot spots detected by MODIS in Siberia are wild fires, but many are related to agricultural burning or industrial activities. Along with the MODIS products, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are being used to locate and identify thermal anomalies. The results show that the frequency of fires (hot spot anomaly pixels) decreases with distance from human settlements and transportation lines. This alone does not imply causality but might be an indicator of natural and anthropogenic factors acting together to shape where and when fires are burning. These findings have important implications for carbon and climate modeling to quantify and predict carbon storage and climate change and to provide an insight into anthropogenic impacts on land use and land cover change.