Monitoring and statistical analysis of forest fires with remote sensing methods: 2021 Manavgat and Marmaris examples

In this thesis, the Manavgat fire in Antalya province and the Marmaris fire in Muğla province were examined among the large forest fires that occurred in the Mediterranean and Aegean Regions of Turkey in 2021. In the study, different spectral indices were calculated, and difference-in-difference (D-difference) indices were generated based on the results of these indices. In addition, the obtained results were compared with official data, and accuracy analysis was performed. Since. the values obtained from the spectral indices were in different units, Min-Max normalization was applied to bring all values to the same scale and make them comparable. In the regions covering Manavgat and Marmaris fires, the fire severity determination performances of different spectral indices were evaluated by statistical analysis. Kruskal-Wallis H test, ANOVA test, and pairwise comparisons were used to analyze whether there are statistically significant differences between these indices. The findings revealed that there are significant differences in the ability of different spectral indices to assess fire severity. This made it possible to comparatively evaluate the effectiveness of each index in post-fire detection.