FIRE REMOTE SENSING BY THE SMALL SATELLITE ON BI-SPECTRAL INFRARED DETECTION (BIRD)

Fire has a growing influence on the eco-system of the Earth. This influence is still not investigated sufficiently, because there is a lack of measurement data obtained globally. So far there is no dedicated satellite sensor for fire remote sensing in an earth orbit. One objective of the DLR small satellite mission on Bi-spectral Infrared Detection (BIRD) is to test a new generation of IR sensors - together with a modified Wide-Angle Optoelectronic Stereo Scanner (WAOSS) which was originally developed for the Mars-96 Mission with regard to the remote sensing of High Temperature Events, such as vegetation fires, coal seam fires and volcanic activities The DLR satellite on Bi-spectral InfraRed Detection (BIRD) was piggy back launched with the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle in a 570 km circular sun-synchronous orbit on 22 October 2001 together with the Indian main satellite TES and the small satellite PROBA from the European Space Agency . The paper presents results of BIRD data based remote sensing of bush fires in Australia and coal seam fires in China