Towards the Development of Real-Time Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) and Delta NBR Imagery from GOES-16/17 and S-NPP

Burned landscapes present difficult hydrologic forecasting challenges for National Weather Service Offices. Burned soils and landscapes can be conducive to the development of flash flooding and landslides from heavy precipitation events. The severity of the burn scar can be directly related to the risk for debris flows and flash flooding. Burned Area Reflectance Classification (BARC) map is generated to indicate the degree of burn severity, which is generated initially by high-resolution satellite imagery from sources such as Landsat, and later by labor-intensive efforts conducted at the burn scar by Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) teams. The challenge for operational meteorologists is that these sources of information are not readily available in near real-time. Landsat imagery, for example, may only be available about once every eight days, and cloudy conditions can obstruct the observation of the burn scar during a single pass. BAER teams cannot conduct assessments until the wildfire has been at least 40 percent contained (up to 80 percent in some regions), and the process itself can take further days to weeks to complete depending on a number of factors. To help remedy this lapse in knowledge, NASA SPoRT has developed the generation of NBR imagery in the Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) using data from the operational GOES 16 and 17 satellites and S-NPP. This presentation will discuss the development of the GOES- and SNPP-derived NBR and dNBR imagery and their initial evaluation by real-time decision makers.