California 2026 Wildfire Burn Severity Analysis
High-resolution multi-spectral satellite intelligence mapping wildfire perimeters, canopy consumption, and dNBR burn severity across California fire complexes.
Run BurnScar Satellite Analysis
Select pre- and post-fire dates to compute calibrated dNBR rasters and vector perimeters.
Spatial Resolution
Bands 8 (NIR, 842nm) and 12 (SWIR-2, 2190nm) resolved at 10m to 20m per pixel.
Revisit Cadence
Sentinel-2A and 2B twin constellation orbital passes over California forest zones.
Cloud-Mask Reliability
Scene Classification Layer (SCL) filtering cirrus, cloud shadows, and dense smoke.
Standardized Burn Severity Classification
| Severity Class | dNBR Range | Ecological & Soil Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Enhanced Regrowth | < -0.100 | Post-fire vegetation flush or unburned canopy |
| Unburned | -0.100 to +0.099 | No measurable thermal signature or canopy damage |
| Low Severity | +0.100 to +0.269 | Surface fire with minor scorch to understory grass and shrubs |
| Moderate-Low Severity | +0.270 to +0.439 | Mixed mortality with scorch in intermediate canopy crowns |
| Moderate-High Severity | +0.440 to +0.659 | Heavy canopy kill with significant char and soil exposure |
| High Severity | > +0.660 | Complete canopy consumption, deep ash layer, severe soil damage |
Multi-Spectral Processing Pipeline
Pre-Fire Baseline Selection
Select clear, cloud-free Sentinel-2 L2A tile captured within 30 days prior to fire ignition.
Post-Fire Image Acquisition
Acquire immediate post-fire overpass tile with minimal smoke obscuration.
Differential NBR Calculation
Execute dNBR = NBR_pre - NBR_post using Band 8 (NIR) and Band 12 (SWIR) reflectance matrices.
USGS CBI Severity Classification
Classify pixels into standardized Composite Burn Index ranges to map soil and vegetation risk.
Frequently Asked Questions
How quickly is satellite imagery available after a California wildfire event?+
Sentinel-2 provides an overpass every 5 days. Processed BOA Level-2A surface reflectance data is typically ready in BurnScar within 3 to 6 hours after satellite downlink.
What is the difference between NBR and dNBR?+
NBR evaluates the ratio between Near-Infrared (living green biomass) and Shortwave-Infrared (char, ash, bare soil). dNBR subtracts the post-fire NBR from the pre-fire NBR to quantify absolute vegetation loss.
Can emergency managers export GeoTIFF severity maps for field teams?+
Yes. BurnScar generates downloadable cloud-optimized GeoTIFFs (COG), GeoJSON perimeters, and PDF executive summaries ready for QGIS, ArcGIS, or CAL FIRE incident commanders.
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