Remote sensing techniques in the mapping of vegetation and their application to runoff evolution in burnt areas

Abstract

South of experimental forested catchments named "Réal Collo-  brier" was destroyed by fire in August 1990. Partially or entirely bumt catchments became an interesting field to study links between vegetation and runoff. An experimental program was built on two axis :
- use of remote sensing techniques to map limits of bumt areas  and recovery of vegetation, year after year.
- link between vegetation and runoff. The first investigations were done on two bumt catchments (Rimbaud and Meffrey), using a runoff model fitted with data before fire. This model has permitted to compare new data (observed after fire) with the ones we would have observed without fire, for the months just after fire (1990, direct effect of fire) and the year after (1991, effect of vegetation recovery)