Active Fire Type
Photographic InterpretationGuide
Active Fire Type
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1
Small slash-and-burn plot in a lowland tropical rain forest in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. This kind of shifting cultivation fire is typical for all tropical rain forest regions. Burning plots usually do not exceed the size of one hectare (ha). Due to burning of heavy logs the heat signature remains detectable for many hours and often covering the cultivation plot. 2 
Wildfire spreading through a desiccated rainforest in East Kalimantan. The heat signal is obscured by the tree canopy. The fire front is moving fast and has a very short residence time. Thus, these ecologically significant fires are often not detected from space. 3 
Fire of medium intensity (flame length up to 5 m) in an open seasonal (deciduous / semi-deciduous) dry forest in Central India. The fire front is moving fast, and the depth of the flame bed is short (2-3 m) due to fast consumption of fine fuels consisting of grass and leaves. 4 
Medium-intensity fire in an open tree-bush savanna in Southern Africa. Fast spread of the fire front, short depth of flame bed. Smoldering combustion after passing of the fire front is restricted to single logs and wildlife/domestic animal dung, hardly detectable from space. 5 
Experimantal burn in a South African savanna. The scene shows the typical feature of a low-intensity fire with low flame lengths, slow movement, complete combustion of the grass fuels, and little production of visible smoke. 6 
High-intensity stand-replacement fire in a boreal Jack Pine forest (Pinus banksiana) in the NorthWest Territories, Canada. The fire front is moving fast. Smoldering combustion behind the fire front depends on dryness and available fuels (tree logs, organic terrain). This fire type is typical for the northern boreal forest of N-America. 7 
The majority of wildfires in the boreal forest of Eurasia spreads as surface fire at varying degrees of intensities. In open, regularly fire-affected coniferous forests the fires can be detected through the canopy layer. 8+9 
Fire burning in a Scotch Pine (Pinus sylvestris) stand of Central Siberia. Fast spread on the slope and sufficinatly deep organic layer, associated with downed woody material, creates high intensity and a deep flame bed, finally developing to a crowning and stand-replacement fire. 
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