Research on wildfires and remote sensing in the last three decades: a bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Evaluating the impact of wildland fires on landscapes, a pursuit increasingly supported by remote sensing techniques, requires an understanding of wildfire dynamics. This research highlights the main insights from the literature related to “wildfires” and “remote sensing” published between 1991 and 2020. The Scopus database was used as a source of information regarding scientific production on these topics, after which bibliometric tools were employed as a means through which to reveal patterns in this network of journals, terms, countries, and authors. The results suggest that these subject areas have undergone significant developments in the last three decades, having been the focus of growing interest among the scientific community. The most relevant contributions to the literature available have been made by researchers working in the areas of earth and environmental sciences (54% of the publications), primarily in the United States, China, Spain, and Canada. Research trends in this field have undergone a significant evolution in recent decades, explained by the strong relationship between the technological evolution of detection methods and remote sensing data acquisition.