Wildfire Impact on Cerro Cora National Park Measured Using Landsat and Sentinel Images

To prepare for and recover from damage due to wildfires, it is necessary to investigate and analyze the impacts of wildfires. To date, various wildfire research methodologies have been conducted and analyzed. The impact of fire tends to be difficult to generalize because it is closely related to many factors, such as the characteristics of the area and the seasonal distribution of vegetation. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct case studies considering the geographical, vegetational, and seasonal characteristics of the area for impact estimation. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the wildfire that occurred in Cerro Cora National Park, Paraguay in August 2021 are needed to recover from the damage and to prepare for future wildfires. Therefore, in this study, we analyzed the impact of the wildfire in Cerro Cora National Park. To calculate the damaged area and severity, the normalized burn ratio and normalized difference vegetation index obtained from Landsat and Sentinel images were used. The tasseled cap transformation was also used to investigate the characteristic variation. To calibrate the seasonal factor, long-term analysis was performed, and short-term analysis was performed to determine the immediate impact of the wildfire. As a result, the damaged area, severity, and restoration for each area were estimated. In addition, characteristic variations of the area were identified. Furthermore, the reliability of the study was enhanced by comparing the results from each satellite image and index.