Colour and false-colour aerial photography for mapping bushfires and forest vegetation

Bushfires are common in Australia. They cause much damage and considerable loss annually. However, some use could be made of these wildfires for forest mapping if developments in colour and false-colour (colour infrared) aerial photography were more fully exploited. The advantages that colour and false-colour aerial photography have over pan-chromatic minus-blue aerial photography are analyzed for the Australian forest environment.
A technique is described. using colour or colour infrared aerial film, either separately or together for multispectral analysis, that could improve the accurate mapping of Australian sclerophyll Eucalyptus forests (after fire) and provide valuable information on the effect of fire on forest ecology. This technique involves sequential aerial photography to record the very distinctive regeneration patterns that follow bushfires. This technique should have wide application for forest studies and for much forest mapping, both within and beyond Australia.