Continuous 1985–2012 Landsat Monitoring to Assess Fire Effects on Meadows in Yosemite National Park, California

A study using Landsat satellite imagery from 1985 to 2012 reveals that low-severity wildfires significantly impact montane meadow vegetation in Yosemite National Park. Following the 1996 Ackerson Fire, burned meadows exhibited lower normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values and negative trends during dormant seasons compared to unburned areas, suggesting prolonged recovery effects on evergreen vegetation. The research leveraged Google Earth Engine for image processing to detect subtle fire impacts over a 28-year period, demonstrating the potential of satellite data for monitoring ecological changes in protected landscapes.

Soulard, C., Albano, C., Villarreal, M., & Walker, J. (2016). Continuous 1985–2012 Landsat Monitoring to Assess Fire Effects on Meadows in Yosemite National Park, California. Remote Sensing, 8(5), 371. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8050371