1 COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE OF FOREST FIRE DETECTION IN KOREA D.P.R. BY MODIS AND TIRS

forest fires have become a social problem. Generally forests play multifunctional roles. Concretely, they produce substances that we use as wood and food, recharge water, prevent floods and sediment disaster, absorb CO2 and mitigate climate change. And also forests are vital for maintaining the earth’s ecological balance. When the forest is reduced due to the fire, however, the various forest benefits have disappeared, and it is serious problem for us. Then the object of this study is to estimate the status of the forest fire by using thermal infrared remote sensing. Using remote sensing, which has the advantage of being able to observe the location that is difficult for a person to go is the best way to study forest fire. In this study, we investigated the forest fire that occurred in Korea D.P.R.. During April and May in 2015, a forest fire broke out in Korea D.P.R.. It is assumed that it was quite a large fire. Since Korea D.P.R. is very secretive, however, information about the forest fire is not so much provided. In this study, the earth observation sensors to be used are MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the EOS-Terra and EOS-Aqua, Operational Land Imager (OLI) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) on the Landsat-8. Each of the spatial resolutions are 1000[m], 30[m] and 100[m] in order. We paid attention to the difference between the spatial resolutions of each sensor. By inspecting the forest fire from three different sensors, we considered the situation in detail. Moreover spatial resolution and temporal resolution of each sensor are in the relationship of trade-off, so we verified the characteristics of each sensor. As a result, by performing spectral signature analysis usin