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One of the primary variables affecting ignition and spread of wildfire is fuel moisture content (FMC). Live FMC (LFMC) is responsive to long term climate and plant adaptations to drought, requiring remote sensing for monitoring of spatial and temporal variations in LFMC. Liquid water has strong absorption features in the near- and shortwave-infrared spectral regions, which provide a physical basis for direct estimation of LFMC. Complexity introduced by biophysical and biochemical properties at leaf and canopy scales presents theoretical and methodological problems that must be addressed before remote sensing can be used for operational monitoring of LFMC. The objective of this paper is to review the use of remotely sensed data for estimating LFMC, with particular concern towards the operational use of LFMC products for fire risk assessment. Relationships between LFMC and fire behavior have been found in …