Large-scale climatic patterns control large lightning fire occurrence in Canada and Alaska forest regions

Understanding the drivers of wildfire occurrence is of great value for fire prevention and management, but due to the variation in research methods, data sources, and data resolution of those studies, it is challenging to conduct a large-scale comprehensive comparative qualitative analysis on the topic. China has diverse vegetation types and topography, and has undergone rapid economic and social development, but experiences a high frequency of wildfires, making it one of the ideal locations for wildfire research. We applied the Random Forests modelling approach to explore the main types of wildfire drivers (climate factors, landscape factors and human factors) in three high wildfire density regions (Northeast (NE), Southwest (SW), and Southeast (SE)) of China. The results indicate that climate factors were the main driver of wildfire occurrence in the three regions. Precipitation and temperature significantly impacted the fire occurrence in the three regions due to the direct influence on the moisture content of forest fuel. However, wind speed had important influence on fire occurrence in the SE and SW. The explanation power of the landscape and human factors varied significantly between regions. Human factors explained 40% of the fire occurrence in the SE but only explained less than 10% of the fire occurrence in the NE and SW. The density of roads was identified as the most important human factor driving fires in all three regions, but railway density had more explanation power on fire occurrence in the SE than in the other regions. The landscape factors showed nearly no influence on fire occurrence in the NE but explained 46.4% and 20.6% in the SE and SW regions, respectively. Amongst landscape factors, elevation had the highest average explanation power on fire occurrence in the three regions, particularly in the SW. In conclusion, this study provides useful insights into targeted fire prediction and prevention, which should be more precise and effective under climate change and socio-economic development.

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Synoptic climatology of lightning-caused forest fires in subalpine and boreal forests

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/x26-211 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 26 (10) ◽

pp. 1859-1874 ◽

Cited By ~ 94

Author(s):

C.H. Nash ◽

E.A. Johnson

Keyword(s):

High Pressure ◽

Forest Fires ◽

Boreal Forests ◽

Dry Weight ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

Synoptic Climatology ◽

Fuel Moisture ◽

Fire Occurrence ◽

Lightning Strikes ◽

Lightning Fire

The coupling of synoptic scale weather conditions with local scale weather and fuel conditions was examined for 2551 fires and 1 537 624 lightning strikes for the May through August fire seasons in 1988, 1989, 1992, and 1993 in Alberta and Saskatchewan. The probability of lightning fire occurrence (number of fires/number of strikes) is near zero until the Fine Fuel Moisture Code reaches 87 (moisture content of 14% dry weight), after which the probability increases rapidly. Duff Moisture and Drought Codes show less clear increases. In all cases, the probability of fire occurrence was low (the number of strikes greatly exceeded the number of forest fires), suggesting that lightning fire ignition coupled with early spread to detection was an uncommon event. This low probability of fire occurrence even at low fuel moisture may be a result of the arrangement and continuity of fuels in the boreal and subalpine forests. The literature suggests a higher probability of lightning-ignited fires in qualitatively different fuels, e.g., grasslands. The higher probability of fire at lower fuel moistures occurred primarily when high pressure dominated (positive 50-kPa anomaly) for at least 3 days and less than 1.5 mm precipitation occurred. The highest number of lightning strikes and largest number of fires also occurred when high pressure dominated. The high lightning numbers during high pressure systems were logistically related to increasing atmospheric instability (K-index).

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The Role of El Nino Variability and Peatland in Burnt Area and Emitted Carbon in Forest Fire Modeling

Forest and Society ◽

10.24259/fs.v6i1.10671 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. 84-103

Author(s):

Ida Bagus Mandhara Brasika

Keyword(s):

Forest Fires ◽

El Niño ◽

Large Scale ◽

El Nino ◽

Natural Environments ◽

Fire Occurrence ◽

Burnt Area ◽

Peat Fire ◽

Ground Fire ◽

Limited Input Data

This study was conducted to model fire occurrence within El Nino variability and peatland distribution. These climate and geographical factors have a significant impact on forest fires in tropical areas such as Indonesia. The re-analysis dataset from ECMWF was observed with respect to climate characteristics in Indonesian El Nino events. The INFERNO (INteractive Fire and Emission algoRithm for Natural envirOnments) was utilized to simulate fires over Borneo Island due to its capability to simulate large-scale fires with simplified parameters. There were some adjustments in this INFERNO model, especially for peat fire as peatland has a significant impact on fires. The first was the contribution of climate to the peat fire which is represented by long-term precipitation. The second was the combustion completeness of peat fire occurrence that is mainly affected by human-induced peat drainage. The result of the model shows that El Nino variability mainly affected peat fires but was unable to well simulate the above-ground fire. It increased the burnt area during strong El Nino but overestimated the fires during low/no El Nino season due to lack of peat fire ignition in the calculation. Moreover, as the model did not provide peat drainage simulation, it underestimated the carbon emission. This model has shown promising results by addressing key features in limited input data, but improving some simulations is necessary for regulating weak/no El Nino conditions and carbon combustion of peat fire.

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Radar vision in the mapping of forest biodiversity from space

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-019-12737-x ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Soyeon Bae ◽

Shaun R. Levick ◽

Lea Heidrich ◽

Paul Magdon ◽

Benjamin F. Leutner ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing ◽

Laser Scanning ◽

Large Scale ◽

External Validation ◽

Predictive Ability ◽

Radar Data ◽

Forest Regions ◽

Local Species ◽

Spatio Temporal ◽

Derived Data

Abstract Recent progress in remote sensing provides much-needed, large-scale spatio-temporal information on habitat structures important for biodiversity conservation. Here we examine the potential of a newly launched satellite-borne radar system (Sentinel-1) to map the biodiversity of twelve taxa across five temperate forest regions in central Europe. We show that the sensitivity of radar to habitat structure is similar to that of airborne laser scanning (ALS), the current gold standard in the measurement of forest structure. Our models of different facets of biodiversity reveal that radar performs as well as ALS; median R² over twelve taxa by ALS and radar are 0.51 and 0.57 respectively for the first non-metric multidimensional scaling axes representing assemblage composition. We further demonstrate the promising predictive ability of radar-derived data with external validation based on the species composition of birds and saproxylic beetles. Establishing new area-wide biodiversity monitoring by remote sensing will require the coupling of radar data to stratified and standardized collected local species data.

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Modelling above-ground carbon dynamics using multi-temporal airborne lidar: insights from a Mediterranean woodland

Biogeosciences Discussions ◽

10.5194/bgd-12-14739-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 12 (17) ◽

pp. 14739-14772 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

W. Simonson ◽

P. Ruiz-Benito ◽

F. Valladares ◽

D. Coomes

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Large Scale ◽

Critical Role ◽

Carbon Fluxes ◽

Carbon Dynamics ◽

National Forest Inventory ◽

Airborne Lidar ◽

Fire Occurrence ◽

Low Carbon ◽

Multi Temporal

Abstract. Woodlands represent highly significant carbon sinks globally, though could lose this function under future climatic change. Effective large-scale monitoring of these woodlands has a critical role to play in mitigating for, and adapting to, climate change. Mediterranean woodlands have low carbon densities, but represent important global carbon stocks due to their extensiveness and are particularly vulnerable because the region is predicted to become much hotter and drier over the coming century. Airborne lidar is already recognized as an excellent approach for high-fidelity carbon mapping, but few studies have used multi-temporal lidar surveys to measure carbon fluxes in forests and none have worked with Mediterranean woodlands. We use a multi-temporal (five year interval) airborne lidar dataset for a region of central Spain to estimate above-ground biomass (AGB) and carbon dynamics in typical mixed broadleaved/coniferous Mediterranean woodlands. Field calibration of the lidar data enabled the generation of grid-based maps of AGB for 2006 and 2011, and the resulting AGB change were estimated. There was a close agreement between the lidar-based AGB growth estimate (1.22 Mg ha−1 year−1) and those derived from two independent sources: the Spanish National Forest Inventory, and a~tree-ring based analysis (1.19 and 1.13 Mg ha−1 year−1, respectively). We parameterised a simple simulator of forest dynamics using the lidar carbon flux measurements, and used it to explore four scenarios of fire occurrence. Under undisturbed conditions (no fire occurrence) an accelerating accumulation of biomass and carbon is evident over the next 100 years with an average carbon sequestration rate of 1.95 Mg C ha−1 year−1. This rate reduces by almost a third when fire probability is increased to 0.01, as has been predicted under climate change. Our work shows the power of multi-temporal lidar surveying to map woodland carbon fluxes and provide parameters for carbon dynamics models. Space deployment of lidar instruments in the near future could open the way for rolling out wide-scale forest carbon stock monitoring to inform management and governance responses to future environmental change.

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Lightning and lightning fire, central cordillera, Canada

International Journal of Wildland Fire ◽

10.1071/wf01048 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 41 ◽

Cited By ~ 59

Author(s):

Jack Wierzchowski ◽

Mark Heathcott ◽

Michael D. Flannigan

Keyword(s):

British Columbia ◽

Forest Fires ◽

Fire Occurrence ◽

Fire Weather Index ◽

Lightning Strikes ◽

Severity Rating ◽

Continental Divide ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Lightning Discharges ◽

Lightning Fire

This study examines the influences of fuel, weather and topography on lightning-caused forest fires in portions of southern British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. The results show a significant difference in lightning and lightning-caused fires east and west of the Continental Divide. In British Columbia, on average there was one fire for every 50 lightning discharges whereas in Alberta there was one fire for every 1400 lightning discharges. Elevation, the distribution of lightning strikes, the Daily Severity Rating (a component of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System) and vegetation composition were identified as primary agents controlling lightning fire occurrence. However, the multivariate analysis does suggest that there are other factors influencing fire occurrence other than the biophysical factors we tested. The implications of the lightning and lightning-ignited fires for land managers are discussed.

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AN ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF LARGE SCALE SPRAYING OPERATIONS ON THE REGIONAL DYNAMICS OF SPRUCE BUDWORM (LEPIDOPTERA: TORTRICIDAE) POPULATIONS

The Canadian Entomologist ◽

10.4039/ent116633-4 ◽

1984 ◽

Vol 116 (4) ◽

pp. 633-644 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

R. A. Fleming ◽

C. A. Shoemaker ◽

J. R. Stedinger

Keyword(s):

Large Scale ◽

Mass Density ◽

Spruce Budworm ◽

Egg Mass ◽

Insecticide Application ◽

Maximum Reduction ◽

Regional Dynamics ◽

Forest Regions ◽

Substantial Decline ◽

The Impact

AbstractExploratory data analysis was employed to investigate the regional dynamics of managed budworm populations based upon survey data reporting spruce budworm egg-mass densities and damage to balsam fir. The Maine Forest Service collected these data annually from 1975 to 1980 at approximately 1000 different locations each year throughout Maine's spruce–fir forest regions. Although spraying was often associated with ‘better’ conditions in heavily defoliated or infested areas, it was generally associated with somewhat ‘poorer’ conditions in areas which had experienced only light defoliation or infestation in the previous year. The analysis also indicated that while insecticide application may reduce budworm larval populations immediately after application, the largest relative decrease in defoliation rates appeared the year after insecticide application. Insecticide treatments were not as effective as expected. In the year following application, the maximum reduction observed in average defoliation was 20% and in average egg-mass density the maximum reduction was 50%. In many cases the reduction was substantially less. Spraying was not associated with any substantial decline in hazard rating.

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Wildfires promoted by contrasting soil moisture anomalies in humid versus arid regions

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-5347 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Sungmin Oh ◽

Xinyuan Hou ◽

Rene Orth

Keyword(s):

Soil Moisture ◽

Arid Regions ◽

Large Scale ◽

Natural Soil ◽

Fire Occurrence ◽

Human Influence ◽

Fire Modelling ◽

Dry Soil ◽

Spatio Temporal ◽

Global Carbon

<p>Wildfires are essential for ecosystem development, thereby affecting the global carbon cycle. Soil moisture is a major driver of wildfires, however, due to a lack of large-scale observations it remains unclear which spatio-temporal soil moisture patterns promote wildfires. Using satellite-based soil moisture data, we show contrasting soil moisture anomalies preceding the locally largest wildfires in space and time. In arid regions wetter-than-average soils enable sufficient biomass growth required to fuel fires. By contrast, in humid regions fires are typically preceded by dry soil moisture anomalies inducing suitable ignition conditions and flammability in an otherwise too wet environment. In both regions, soil moisture anomalies are continuously decreasing over the months before the fire occurrence, often from above-normal to below-normal. These signals are most pronounced for larger fires in sparsely populated areas with low human influence. Resolving natural soil moisture-fire interactions supports fire modelling and enables improved fire forecasts and early warning.</p>

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Modeling Forest Lightning Fire Occurrence in the Daxinganling Mountains of Northeastern China with MAXENT

Forests ◽

10.3390/f6051422 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 6 (12) ◽

pp. 1422-1438 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Feng Chen ◽

Yongsheng Du ◽

Shukui Niu ◽

Jinlong Zhao

Keyword(s):

Northeastern China ◽

Fire Occurrence ◽

Lightning Fire

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Large scale eucalypt plantations associated to increased fire risk

10.7287/peerj.preprints.3348 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Adolfo Cordero Rivera

Keyword(s):

Iberian Peninsula ◽

Large Scale ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Fire Risk ◽

Fire Frequency ◽

Forest Plantations ◽

Human Society ◽

Fire Occurrence ◽

Mediterranean Countries ◽

Eucalypt Plantations

To satisfy the high timber demands of human society, forest plantations, especially with fast growing species like pines and eucalypts, are increasing worldwide. In some European countries, the number of wildfires has been augmenting since the second half of the XX century, in parallel with these tree plantations. The record for wildfires in Europe is paradoxically found in the NW of the Iberian Peninsula, a region where broadleaved Quercus forests are the potential climax vegetation, with a humid climate, unfavourable for fire occurrence. The ecological and forestry literature have analysed fire occurrence with complex models of fuel accumulation and vegetation structure, combined with no less complex climatic models to explain why this region has such a high fire occurrence. Economists have concentrated on the relationship between income and fire. Historians, sociologists and political scientists have long ago demonstrated that several conflicts over land use and property are behind most wildfires in this region, but there is little interaction between these fields. Here I use official statistics about fire frequency and wood production to test whether fire frequency is associated to the use of pyrophytic species. I found that fire frequency in NW Spain can be predicted by the amount of eucalypt biomass accumulated in forest plantations. I further explore the relationships between intensive sylviculture and fire risk at a regional scale (the North of the Iberian Peninsula) and a large scale, the Mediterranean countries. NW Iberia peasants have traditionally used fire to manage their common lands, and used the same techniques to oppose forest policies implemented by Franco’s dictatorship, which continued until now with little changes. The use of highly pyrophytic species like eucalypts and some pines has exacerbated this problem, as suggested by the positive correlation between eucalypt plantations and fire frequency at the local, regional and Mediterranean scales.

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