Tracking the Progression of Burned Areas in Tropical Peat Swamp Forests by Integrating Sentinel Optical and SAR Imagery: A Case Study of Binsuluk Forest Reserve in Sabah, Malaysia

Nurul Aina Abdul Aziz, McKreddy Yaban, Muhamad Zulfazli Zakaria, Siti Atikah Mohamed Hashim

2025

Abstract

Climate change and rising global temperatures are driving forest fires to become more intense and frequent worldwide, particularly in peat swamp forest. Since the predominant burning mechanism in peatland forest is smouldering combustion, it causes widespread air pollution and emits massive amounts of carbon due to prolonged episodes of fire events. Therefore, the development of a unique approach to monitor forest fire progressions through burned area mapping mainly in persistent cloud cover is vital for the estimation of fire extent, location, and land cover affected. Thus, this research aims to evaluate the capabilities of Sentinel-1 SAR and Sentinel-2 optical time series in boosting the frequency and accuracy of burn area progression mapping in peatland areas. Results from the forest fire series in Binsuluk Forest Reserve, which occurred from February to April 2024, indicated a reduction in the backscatter value of the cross-polarized (VH) signal in the burned area for Sentinel-1 SAR C band. Despite the cloud cover challenge, Sentinel-2 continues to deliver essential data on the positioning of active fires and smoke plumes, with burn area detection being more precise when utilizing the Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI) compared to the Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR). The integration of Sentinel optical and SAR imagery has effectively facilitated an increased tracking frequency and precision for the evolution of burned areas.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Abdul Aziz N., Yaban M., Zakaria M. and Mohamed Hashim S. (2025). Tracking the Progression of Burned Areas in Tropical Peat Swamp Forests by Integrating Sentinel Optical and SAR Imagery: A Case Study of Binsuluk Forest Reserve in Sabah, Malaysia. In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Geographical Information Systems Theory, Applications and Management - Volume 1: GISTAM; ISBN 978-989-758-741-2, SciTePress, pages 264-271. DOI: 10.5220/0013482300003935

in Bibtex Style

@conference{gistam25,
author={Nurul Aina Abdul Aziz and McKreddy Yaban and Muhamad Zulfazli Zakaria and Siti Atikah Mohamed Hashim},
title={Tracking the Progression of Burned Areas in Tropical Peat Swamp Forests by Integrating Sentinel Optical and SAR Imagery: A Case Study of Binsuluk Forest Reserve in Sabah, Malaysia},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Geographical Information Systems Theory, Applications and Management - Volume 1: GISTAM},
year={2025},
pages={264-271},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013482300003935},
isbn={978-989-758-741-2},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Geographical Information Systems Theory, Applications and Management - Volume 1: GISTAM
TI - Tracking the Progression of Burned Areas in Tropical Peat Swamp Forests by Integrating Sentinel Optical and SAR Imagery: A Case Study of Binsuluk Forest Reserve in Sabah, Malaysia
SN - 978-989-758-741-2
AU - Abdul Aziz N.
AU - Yaban M.
AU - Zakaria M.
AU - Mohamed Hashim S.
PY - 2025
SP - 264
EP - 271
DO - 10.5220/0013482300003935
PB - SciTePress