SENTINEL-2A red-edge spectral indices suitability for discriminating burn severity

Fires are a problematic and recurrent issue in Mediterranean ecosystems. Accurate discrimination between burn severity levels is essential for the rehabilitation planning of burned areas. Sentinel-2A MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) record data in three red-edge wavelengths, spectral domain especially useful on agriculture and vegetation applications. Our objective is to find out whether Sentinel-2A MSI red-edge wavelengths are suitable for burn severity discrimination. As study area, we used the 2015 Sierra Gata wildfire (Spain) that burned approximately 80 km(2). A Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS)-grading map with four burn severity levels was considered as reference truth. Cox and Snell, Nagelkerke and McFadde pseudo-R-2 statistics obtained by Multinomial Logistic Regression showed the superiority of red-edge spectral indices (particularly, Modified Simple Ratio Red-edge, Chlorophyll Index Red-edge, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index Red-edge) over conventional spectral indices. Fisher's Least Significant Difference test confirmed that Sentinel-2A MSI red-edge spectral indices are adequate to discriminate four burn severity levels. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.