Dynamic fuel mapping in the South Pennines using a multitemporal intensity and coherence approach

• Main Authors: Millin-Chalabi, Gail, Labenski, Pia, Pacheco Pascagaza, Ana Maria, Clay, Gareth, Fassnacht, Fabian Ewald
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2023
• Subjects: Wildfires; Dynamic fuels; South Pennines; Intensity; Coherence; Sentinel-1; phenology; Marsden; mountain hare
• Online Access: https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/publications/b09ca6ad-267d-474d-b137-0ba485755210; https://pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/files/277284821/Gail_M-C.2.pdf

UK peatlands are of great environmental importance, they are a major carbon store locking-in approximately 3.2 billion tonnes of carbon and cover 12% of UK land area (CEH, 2021). This research is part of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funded project “Towards a UK fire danger rating system: Understanding fuels, fire behaviour and impacts” (https://ukfdrs.com/). Work package 1 focuses on the use of Earth Observation techniques to assess (a) the spatial distribution of vegetation fuel-loads across the UK and (b) to develop a dynamic fuel map based on seasonal change and land cover management in the South Pennines, England. This research focuses on (b) the dynamic fuel map. The South Pennines covers the Peak District National Park (PDNP) which is the oldest national park in the UK and extends further north to Marsden Moor. The Marsden Moor Estate owned by the National Trust in West Yorkshire, is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Special Protection Area (JNCC, 2021) (https://sac.jncc.gov.uk/site/UK0030280). The South Pennines blanket bog habitat is home to rare upland species such as the mountain hare and red listed Birds of Conservation Concern 4 (BoCC4) such as the skylark, curlew and lapwing (British Trust for Ornithology, 2021). Wildfire disturbance in UK peatlands is of growing concern for example since 2019, the National Trust reported a total of £700,000 worth of damage caused by wildfires on the Marsden Moor Estate (National Trust, 2021). Over the past three years there have been large wildfire events at Marsden Moor (26 February 2019, 22 April 2019, 23 March 2020 and 25 April 2021) with the biggest fire in April 2019 with a reported 700 hectares of peatland damaged impacting this fragile landscape (National Trust, 2021). Regular wildfire activity extends throughout the South Pennines region as recorded by Incident Recording System (IRS) data provided to the UKFDRS Project by the Home Office. This paper presents a SAR intensity and InSAR ...