On the Use of GNSS Reflectometry for Detecting Fire Disturbances in Forests: A Case Study in Angola

In recent years, the global climate change increased significantly the occurrence and severity of forest disturbances due to fires, causing important alterations in forest ecosystems that also impact on climate and affecting the forest capability of providing resources for human needs. This paper aims at exploiting the potential of Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R), based on L band signals, for the detection of forest disturbances due to fires. The study focused on the forested part of Angola that was largely affected by fires during the summer 2019 and exploited the data collected by the NASA Cyclone GNSS (CyGNSS) constellation. As reference data for developing and testing the method, the ESA CCI decadal burned areas maps have been considered. A simple approach based on the temporal gradient of the GNSS-R observables, namely Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) and Equivalent Reflectivity ( $\Gamma$ ), allowed identifying satisfactorily the burned areas with respect to the reference data, by enabling the generation of maps every ten days.