Advancing wildfire monitoring: remote sensing techniques and applications in the Sana River Basin, Bosnia and Herzegovina

The subject of this research is the application of remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) in identifying, monitoring, and analyzing wildfires in the Sana River basin in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2017. The research aims to determine the weather conditions that favor the occurrence of wildfires and their spatial impact on vegetation and to assess the degree of land degradation after the wildfires. Through the calculation of the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), critical dry periods with significantly negative values were identified in July (− 1.60) and August (− 1.94), indicating severe droughts with a high hazard of wildfire occurrence. Additionally, the calculation of the Angstrom index identified a period of high wildfire hazard (from July 5 to August 5, 2017). Vegetation condition monitoring and burn severity during the high-hazard period were assessed by calculating the differenced Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (dNDVI) and the differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR). By intersecting dNDVI and dNBR with the results of the supervised classification, the impact of wildfires on different land use types was effectively assessed. It was determined that a total of 214.61 km2 (dNDVI) and 168.77 km2 (dNBR) of meadows and pastures, 270.45 km2 (dNDVI) and 35.2 km2 (dNBR) of forested areas, and 30.12 km2 (dNDVI) and 17.95 km2 (dNBR) agriculture areas where exposed to moderate, high, and very high wildfires. Additionally, a total of 19,077 residents were affected by the wildfires. The research results highlight the need to develop and implement more effective prevention and hazard management strategies, particularly in protecting the study area’s forest ecosystems and agriculture.