Evaluation of spatial-temporal variability of the forest cover of Pribaikalsky district of the Republic of Buryatia based on Earth remote sensing data

With the development of geoinformation technologies, the role of satellite images and software tools for creation of modem methods for monitoring global changes in forest cover is increasing. The data of medium spatial resolution of the Landsat satellites are used to solve the problems of monitoring and modeling changes in forest cover. The article presents the results of the analysis of spatial and temporal variability of the forest cover of Pribaikalsky district of the Republic of Buryatia for the period from 2003 to 2017, obtained from three independent sources of information: 1) archival data of the Republican Forestry Agency of the Republic of Buryatia; 2) the normalized burn ratio (NBR) for the study area; 3) data of the Global Forest Watch online platform. We have analyzed the dynamics and factors of change in the normalized bum ratio, and presented a comparison of the results of identifying burnt areas according to the NBR, the Republican Forestry Agency of the Republic of Buryatia and the Global Forest Watch Internet service. Studies have shown the high applicability of Landsat satellite data and modem software geoinformation systems for remote monitoring of forestry fund lands.