Lightning-caused forest fire risk in Northwestern Ontario, Canada, is increasing and associated with anomalies in fire weather

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 406-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas G. Woolford ◽  
C.B. Dean ◽  
David L. Martell ◽  
Jiguo Cao ◽  
B.M. Wotton
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Northwestern Ontario ◽  
In Fire ◽  
Forest Fire Risk

Dissemination of seasonal fire weather information for stakeholders and researchers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Folmer Krikken ◽  
Jonathan Eden ◽  
Igor Drobyshev
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Global Analysis ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
Ecosystem Dynamics ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Variability ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Weather Risk ◽  
Forest Fire Risk

<p>Fire is the primary driving factor of the ecosystem dynamics of many forests, directly affecting the global carbon balance and atmospheric concentrations of the trace gases including carbon dioxide. Recent anthropogenic influence has led to an increase in frequency and impact of wild fires. Hence, it is of vital importance to predict forest fire risk at monthly and seasonal time scales in order to mitigate its impacts, including fire driven dynamics of ecosystem and socio-economic services.</p><p>Resilience of the ocean–atmosphere system provides potential for early detection of upcoming fire season intensity. Here, we report on the development of a probabilistic empirical prediction system for forest fire risk on monthly to seasonal timescales across the Northern Hemisphere, using local and large scale climate information as predictors for future fire weather. The fire risk is quantified by the monthly drought code (MDC), which is an established indicator for seasonal fire activity.</p><p>The forecasts are disseminated through the KNMI climate explorer, using an interactive online Python application, in order to convey forecast information in a simple and digestible manner. A forecasting page allows for end-users to assess local seasonal fire weather risk, associated forecast skill, and the relation between historical MDC and observed fires. The forecasts are updated monthly throughout the fire season. A research page allows for local and global analysis of the sources of predictability, and characterization of the patterns of spatial and temporal variability of fire weather risk.</p>

Estimation of Forest Fire Risk by Using Fire Weather Index in the MENA Region

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Burcu Calda ◽  
Kamil Collu ◽  
Aytac Pacal ◽  
Mehmet Levent Kurnaz
Keyword(s):  
Observational Data ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Control Period ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Weather Index ◽  
Fire Weather Index ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Forest Fire Risk

<p>Forest fires are naturals in the Mediterranean ecosystems. However, in the last decade, the number of wildfires has significantly increased in the Mediterranean basin along with climate change. Therefore, forecasts of this region by using fire indices are crucial to take necessary precautions. In the present study, the projected changes for the period 2070 - 2099 concerning the control period 1971 - 2000 were used to estimate forest fire risk by the Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI). RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 emission scenarios (IPCC) outputs of MPI-ESM-MR and HadGEM2-ES dynamically downscaled to 50 km for the CORDEX-MENA domain with the use of the RegCM4 were utilized. ERA-Interim observational data from ECMWF covering the period 1980-2012 were also used to test the performances of models. The output of MPI-ESM-MR gave more similar fire risk prediction with the reforecast of observational data (ERA-Interim). Thus, the MPI-ESM-MR model could be more suitable to estimate fire risk by FWI. According to future projection, forest fire risk will significantly increase throughout the region for the last 30 years of this century.</p>

scholarly journals Development of a national index for the purpose of forest fire risk assessments on the example of southern Serbia

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (6 Part A) ◽  
pp. 3307-3316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatjana Ratknic ◽  
Mihailo Ratknic ◽  
Nikola Rakonjac ◽  
Ivana Zivanovic ◽  
Zoran Poduska
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Moderate Correlation ◽  
Weather Index ◽  
Fire Weather Index ◽  
Forest Fire Risk ◽  
Future Concepts

The paper presents the results on the study of the possible application of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index and the Modified Angstrom Index in forest fire risk assessments. The daily values of these indices for the period 2005-2015 were related to the forest fire database. It was found that there is a relatively weak to moderate correlation between forest fires and the values of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index. In order to improve the wildfire risk assessments (including forest fires), the index was modified. The modified index has a significantly greater correlation with the actual events of forest fires and consequently a much wider application in southern Serbia. The modified index can be of great importance in the future concepts of forest fire risk management.

scholarly journals Forest fire hazard assessment by clustering and using neural networks under unstability and uncertainty

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-69
Author(s):  
Tatiana Sergeevna Stankevich
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Minimum Distance ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Forest Fire Risk ◽  
Natural And Anthropogenic Factors

The paper focuses on the data on forest fires and identification of key natural and anthropogenic factors that are crucial for forest management, especially, for developing and implementing the fire safety measures. In recent decades, there have been observed the increased environmental, social and economic losses from the forest fires on a global scale, which has required stepped-up fire-fighting surveillance, especially in the preventive forest fire risk assessment. In all the variety of modern approaches aimed at assessing the fire hazards to the forests and taking into account the effecting environmental factors, most of them are based on simplified calculations and do not take into account different factors, mainly anthropological ones. The purpose of the study is to assess the forest fire risk depending on the environmental factors by using cluster analysis in conditions of instability and uncertainty. It could help applying the integrated approach to forest fire risk assessing in order to take into account both natural and anthropogenic factors in difficult conditions. To assess the forest fire risk, there were used the data obtained by MODIS spectroradiometer from January 1, 2014 to November 24, 2019: latitude; longitude; acquisition time and date. The following parameters were used as additional: Fire Weather Index; minimum distance to an inhabited locality; minimum distance to the road (highway or railway); minimum distance to the water area; holiday / day off; potential value. According to the results of the spatial distribution of forest fires and taking into account the data on the environmental factors there have been formed three clusters; there has been revealed a key relationship between the probability of a forest fire and proximity to the inhabited locality. There has been submitted the index of forest fire risk assessment (the Fire Weather and Human Index (FWHI)) based on the natural and anthropogenic impacts. Identification of social and biophysical aspects of the community exposure to fires and the adaptation of the existing fire prevention strategy will improve the forest fire safety system.

scholarly journals Temporal variations and change of forest fire danger in Europe in 1960–2012

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 6291-6326
Author(s):  
A. Venäläinen ◽  
N. Korhonen ◽  
N. Koutsias ◽  
F. Xystrakis ◽  
I. R. Urbieta ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
Fire Danger ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Fire Weather Index ◽  
Current Season ◽  
Fire Activity ◽  
Forest Fire Danger ◽  
In Fire

Abstract. Understanding how fire-weather danger indices changed in the past, and detecting how changes affected forest fire activity is important in changing climate. We used the Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI), calculated from two reanalysis datasets, ERA 40 and ERA Interim, to examine the temporal variation of forest fire danger in Europe in 1960–2012. Additionally, we used national forest-fires statistical data from Greece and Spain to relate fire danger and fire activity. There is no obvious trend in fire danger for the time period covered by ERA 40 (1960–1999) whereas for the period 1980–2012 covered by ERA Interim, the mean FWI and the number of high fire risk days shows an increasing trend which is significant at the 99% confidence level for South and East Europe. The cross-correlation calculated at national level in Greece and Spain between mean yearly area burned and mean FWI of the current season is of the order 0.5–0.6, and demonstrates the importance of the fire-season weather on forest fires. Our results show that, fire risk is multifaceted, and factors like changes in fire fighting capacity, ignition patterns, or landscapes might have played a role in forest fires trends. However, weather trends remain as important determinants of forest fires.

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