scholarly journals Quantitative charcoal reflectance measurements better link to regrowth potential than ground-based fire-severity assessments following a recent heathland wildfire at Carn Brea, Cornwall, UK

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (12) ◽  
pp. 845 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stacey L. New ◽  
Victoria A. Hudspith ◽  
Claire M. Belcher
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Quantitative Information ◽  
Burned Area ◽  
Severity Assessment ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Severity Scores ◽  
Reflectance Measurements

Charcoal has recently been suggested to retain information about the fire that generated it. When looked at under a microscope, charcoals formed by different aspects of fire behaviour indicate different ability to reflect the amount of light when studied using the appropriate technique. It has been suggested that this method, charcoal reflectance (Ro), might be able to provide a quantitative fire severity metric that can be used in conjunction with or instead of standard qualitative fire severity scores. We studied charcoals from a recent heathland wildfire in Carn Brea, Cornwall, UK, and assessed whether charcoal reflectance (Ro) can be linked to standard qualitative fire severity scores for the burned area. We found that charcoal reflectance was greater at sites along the burned area that had been scored as having a higher qualitative fire severity. However, there were clear instances where the quantitative charcoal reflectance measurements were able to better indicate damage and regrowth potential than qualitative scoring alone. We suggest measuring the reflectance of charcoals may not only be able to provide quantitative information about the spatial distribution of heat across a burned area post fire but that this approach is able to provide improvement to fire severity assessment approaches.

scholarly journals Challenges on fire severity assessment in Indonesia: A vegetation diversity changes perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 886 (1) ◽  
pp. 012107
Author(s):  
Lailan Syaufina ◽  
Imas Sukaesih Sitanggang ◽  
Fakhri Sukma Afina
Keyword(s):  
Text Mining ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Systematic Reviews ◽  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Burned Area ◽  
Severity Assessment ◽  
Vegetation Diversity ◽  
Criteria And Indicators ◽  
Publish Or Perish

Abstract Fire severity assessment plays a significant role in post-fire management, which relates to burned area recovery, economic valuation, and law enforcement. Although various fire severity assessments have been conducted in several burned areas in Indonesia, the standardized method seems limited. This study aims to define criteria and indicators for forest and land fire severity assessment based on systematic reviews using a text mining approach. Systematic reviews on peer-reviewed journal articles related to forest fire severity published in 2010-2021 from Google Scholar source was conducted using Publish or Perish application using keywords of forest fire, severity, criteria, indicator, vegetation, soil, wildlife, living trees, mortality, survival, a burned area, abundance with no citations nor patents included. The linkage among forest fire severity related terms was analyzed using the VOSviewer application, which is based on a text mining approach to identify the most common criteria and indicators for fire severity assessment. The study revealed that there are 991 articles published fits to the keywords, of which 269 articles close related to forest fire severity from 75 peer-reviewed journals. Text mining analyses resulted in 4 clusters of forest fire severity related terms. The criteria commonly used for forest fire severity assessment are vegetation and soil, while the options for indicators including diversity, abundance, forest structure, tree mortality, and burn depth. These criteria and indicators are recommended for formulating forest fire severity assessment standard methods in Indonesia.

Burning trash for science - using waste to monitor wildfire energies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Losiak ◽  
Amber Avery ◽  
Andy Elliott ◽  
Sarah Baker ◽  
Claire Belcher
Keyword(s):  
Fire Severity ◽  
Burned Area ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Data Loggers ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Different Temperatures ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
Reflectance Measurements

<p>     Properties of the wildfires are hard to precisely and accurately measure during the event. This limits our ability to estimate effects of the event on the environment (e.g., how quickly will the area be able to recover, and what will be the long-term carbon storage in an ecosystem Hurteau and Brooks, 2011). Currently used methods of estimating of the ‘fire severity’ (the amount of vegetation and carbon loss from an ecosystem following a fire) are either subjective (fire severity scales Ryan and Noste 1985), time consuming (charcoal reflectance Belcher et al. 2019) or expensive (thermocouples with data-loggers).</p><p>     Here we present results of our proof of concept tests of a new approach that may allow ecologists to monitor fire severity and the energy distribution across a burned area by looking at the effects of the fire on litter such as tin cans, bottles and plastic items, that are often revealed following wildfire events. The approach is based on the fact that different types of packages and materials are known to decompose at different temperatures. We will present results from: 1) Field observations of burned litter compared with the charcoal reflectance measurements based on samples collected in the same spot from the 2018 Ferndown, UK. 2) experimental heating of a range of typical litter based elements in the wildFIRE Lab, using it’s state-of-the-art fire testing equipment; 3) results of the field-scale experiments performed during the controlled burns in Dorset in the beginning of 2020.</p>

scholarly journals Short-Term Effects of Fire Severity on Vegetation Based on Sentinel-2 Satellite Data

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 432
Author(s):  
Aru Han ◽  
Song Qing ◽  
Yongbin Bao ◽  
Li Na ◽  
Yuhai Bao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Dynamic Change ◽  
Burned Area ◽  
Fire Event ◽  
Vegetation Dynamic ◽  
Area Index ◽  
Sentinel 2

An important component in improving the quality of forests is to study the interference intensity of forest fires, in order to describe the intensity of the forest fire and the vegetation recovery, and to improve the monitoring ability of the dynamic change of the forest. Using a forest fire event in Bilahe, Inner Monglia in 2017 as a case study, this study extracted the burned area based on the BAIS2 index of Sentinel-2 data for 2016–2018. The leaf area index (LAI) and fractional vegetation cover (FVC), which are more suitable for monitoring vegetation dynamic changes of a burned area, were calculated by comparing the biophysical and spectral indices. The results showed that patterns of change of LAI and FVC of various land cover types were similar post-fire. The LAI and FVC of forest and grassland were high during the pre-fire and post-fire years. During the fire year, from the fire month (May) through the next 4 months (September), the order of areas of different fire severity in terms of values of LAI and FVC was: low > moderate > high severity. During the post fire year, LAI and FVC increased rapidly in areas of different fire severity, and the ranking of areas of different fire severity in terms of values LAI and FVC was consistent with the trend observed during the pre-fire year. The results of this study can improve the understanding of the mechanisms involved in post-fire vegetation change. By using quantitative inversion, the health trajectory of the ecosystem can be rapidly determined, and therefore this method can play an irreplaceable role in the realization of sustainable development in the study area. Therefore, it is of great scientific significance to quantitatively retrieve vegetation variables by remote sensing.

scholarly journals Multitemporal Mapping of Post-Fire Land Cover Using Multiplatform PRISMA Hyperspectral and Sentinel-UAV Multispectral Data: Insights from Case Studies in Portugal and Italy

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. 3982
Author(s):  
Giacomo Lazzeri ◽  
William Frodella ◽  
Guglielmo Rossi ◽  
Sandro Moretti
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Experimental Methodology ◽  
Vegetation Recovery ◽  
Burned Area ◽  
Remotely Sensed Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Sentinel 2

Wildfires have affected global forests and the Mediterranean area with increasing recurrency and intensity in the last years, with climate change resulting in reduced precipitations and higher temperatures. To assess the impact of wildfires on the environment, burned area mapping has become progressively more relevant. Initially carried out via field sketches, the advent of satellite remote sensing opened new possibilities, reducing the cost uncertainty and safety of the previous techniques. In the present study an experimental methodology was adopted to test the potential of advanced remote sensing techniques such as multispectral Sentinel-2, PRISMA hyperspectral satellite, and UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) remotely-sensed data for the multitemporal mapping of burned areas by soil–vegetation recovery analysis in two test sites in Portugal and Italy. In case study one, innovative multiplatform data classification was performed with the correlation between Sentinel-2 RBR (relativized burn ratio) fire severity classes and the scene hyperspectral signature, performed with a pixel-by-pixel comparison leading to a converging classification. In the adopted methodology, RBR burned area analysis and vegetation recovery was tested for accordance with biophysical vegetation parameters (LAI, fCover, and fAPAR). In case study two, a UAV-sensed NDVI index was adopted for high-resolution mapping data collection. At a large scale, the Sentinel-2 RBR index proved to be efficient for burned area analysis, from both fire severity and vegetation recovery phenomena perspectives. Despite the elapsed time between the event and the acquisition, PRISMA hyperspectral converging classification based on Sentinel-2 was able to detect and discriminate different spectral signatures corresponding to different fire severity classes. At a slope scale, the UAV platform proved to be an effective tool for mapping and characterizing the burned area, giving clear advantage with respect to filed GPS mapping. Results highlighted that UAV platforms, if equipped with a hyperspectral sensor and used in a synergistic approach with PRISMA, would create a useful tool for satellite acquired data scene classification, allowing for the acquisition of a ground truth.

scholarly journals Global fire emissions estimates during 1997–2015

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guido R. van der Werf ◽  
James T. Randerson ◽  
Louis Giglio ◽  
Thijs T. van Leeuwen ◽  
Yang Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Fuel Consumption ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Emission Factors ◽  
Trace Gas ◽  
Burned Area ◽  
Biogeochemical Model ◽  
Fire Dynamics ◽  
Fire Emissions ◽  
Aerosol Emissions

Abstract. Climate, land use, and other anthropogenic and natural drivers have the potential to influence fire dynamics in many regions. To develop a mechanistic understanding of the changing role of these drivers and their impact on atmospheric composition, long term fire records are needed that fuse information from different satellite and in-situ data streams. Here we describe the fourth version of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED) and quantify global fire emissions patterns during 1997–2015. The modeling system, based on the Carnegie-Ames-Stanford-Approach (CASA) biogeochemical model, has several modifications from the previous version and uses higher quality input datasets. Significant upgrades include: 1) new burned area estimates with contributions from small fires, 2) a revised fuel consumption parameterization optimized using field observations, 3) modifications that improve the representation of fuel consumption in frequently burning landscapes, and 4) fire severity estimates that better represent continental differences in burning processes across boreal regions of North America and Eurasia. The new version has a higher spatial resolution (0.25°) and uses a different set of emission factors that separately resolves trace gas and aerosol emissions from temperate and boreal forest ecosystems. Global mean carbon emissions using the burned area dataset with small fires (GFED4s) were 2.2 x 1015 grams carbon per year (Pg C yr-1) during 1997–2015, with a maximum in 1997 (3.0 Pg C yr-1) and minimum in 2013 (1.8 Pg C yr-1). These estimates were 11 % higher than our previous estimates (GFED3) during 1997–2011, when the two datasets overlapped. This increase was the result of a substantial increase in burned area (37 %), mostly due to the inclusion of small fires, and a modest decrease in mean fuel consumption (–19 %) to better match estimates from field studies, primarily in savannas and grasslands. For trace gas and aerosol emissions, differences between GFED4s and GFED3 were often larger due to the use of revised emission factors. If small fire burned area was excluded (GFED4 without the "s" for small fires), average emissions were 1.5 Pg C yr-1. The addition of small fires had the largest impact on emissions in temperate North America, Central America, Europe, and temperate Asia. Our improved dataset provides an internally consistent set of burned area and emissions that may contribute to a better understanding of multi-decadal changes in fire dynamics and their impact on the Earth System. GFED data is available from http://www.globalfiredata.org.

scholarly journals INVESTIGATION AND EVALUATION OF SPATIAL PATTERNS IN TABRIZ PARKS USING LANDSCAPE METRICS

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-269
Author(s):  
Ali Majnouni Toutakhane ◽  
Mojtaba Mofareh
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
Landscape Metrics ◽  
Shape Index ◽  
Quantitative Information ◽  
Green Spaces ◽  
Quantitative Results ◽  
Patch Density ◽  
Distribution Composition ◽  
Nearest Neighborhood

Nowadays, the green spaces in cities and especially metropolises have adopted a variety of functions. In addition to improving the environmental conditions, they are suitable places for spending free times and mitigating nervous pressures of the machinery life based on their distribution and dispersion in the cities. In this research, in order to study the spatial distribution and composition of the parks and green spaces in Tabriz metropolis, the map of Parks prepared using the digital atlas of Tabriz parks and Arc Map and IDRISI softwares. Then, quantitative information of spatial patterns of Tabriz parks provided using Fragstats software and a selection of landscape metrics including: the area of class, patch density, percentage of landscape, average patch size, average patch area, largest patch index, landscape shape index, average Euclidean distance of the nearest neighborhood and average index of patch shape. Then the spatial distribution, composition, extent and continuity of the parks was evaluated. Overall, only 8.5 percent of the landscape is assigned to the parks, and they are studied in three classes of neighborhood, district and regional parks. Neighborhood parks and green spaces have a better spatial distribution pattern compared to the other classes and the studied metrics showed better results for this class. In contrast, the quantitative results of the metrics calculated for regional parks, showed the most unfavorable spatial status for this class of parks among the three classes studied in Tabriz city.

scholarly journals Global fire emissions estimates during 1997–2016

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 697-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guido R. van der Werf ◽  
James T. Randerson ◽  
Louis Giglio ◽  
Thijs T. van Leeuwen ◽  
Yang Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Fuel Consumption ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Emission Factors ◽  
Trace Gas ◽  
Burned Area ◽  
Biogeochemical Model ◽  
Fire Dynamics ◽  
Fire Emissions ◽  
Aerosol Emissions

Abstract. Climate, land use, and other anthropogenic and natural drivers have the potential to influence fire dynamics in many regions. To develop a mechanistic understanding of the changing role of these drivers and their impact on atmospheric composition, long-term fire records are needed that fuse information from different satellite and in situ data streams. Here we describe the fourth version of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED) and quantify global fire emissions patterns during 1997–2016. The modeling system, based on the Carnegie–Ames–Stanford Approach (CASA) biogeochemical model, has several modifications from the previous version and uses higher quality input datasets. Significant upgrades include (1) new burned area estimates with contributions from small fires, (2) a revised fuel consumption parameterization optimized using field observations, (3) modifications that improve the representation of fuel consumption in frequently burning landscapes, and (4) fire severity estimates that better represent continental differences in burning processes across boreal regions of North America and Eurasia. The new version has a higher spatial resolution (0.25°) and uses a different set of emission factors that separately resolves trace gas and aerosol emissions from temperate and boreal forest ecosystems. Global mean carbon emissions using the burned area dataset with small fires (GFED4s) were 2.2  ×  1015 grams of carbon per year (Pg C yr−1) during 1997–2016, with a maximum in 1997 (3.0 Pg C yr−1) and minimum in 2013 (1.8 Pg C yr−1). These estimates were 11 % higher than our previous estimates (GFED3) during 1997–2011, when the two datasets overlapped. This net increase was the result of a substantial increase in burned area (37 %), mostly due to the inclusion of small fires, and a modest decrease in mean fuel consumption (−19 %) to better match estimates from field studies, primarily in savannas and grasslands. For trace gas and aerosol emissions, differences between GFED4s and GFED3 were often larger due to the use of revised emission factors. If small fire burned area was excluded (GFED4 without the s for small fires), average emissions were 1.5 Pg C yr−1. The addition of small fires had the largest impact on emissions in temperate North America, Central America, Europe, and temperate Asia. This small fire layer carries substantial uncertainties; improving these estimates will require use of new burned area products derived from high-resolution satellite imagery. Our revised dataset provides an internally consistent set of burned area and emissions that may contribute to a better understanding of multi-decadal changes in fire dynamics and their impact on the Earth system. GFED data are available from http://www.globalfiredata.org.

Fuel characteristics and fire behaviour in mature Mediterranean gorse shrublands

2004 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martín De Luis ◽  
Manuel J. Baeza ◽  
José Raventós ◽  
José C. González-Hidalgo
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Plant Density ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Fuel Distribution ◽  
Degree Of Dominance ◽  
Mediterranean Regions ◽  
The Relationship

Since the early 1990s, Mediterranean gorse shrublands have expanded significantly in the Mediterranean regions of Spain mainly as a result of the increase in the frequency and extension of forest fires. Mediterranean gorse (Ulex parviflorus), which has been described as a degradation stage of forest communities after fire, has also been described as a fire-prone community. Thus, its presence increases the risk that new fires might occur. In spite of this evidence, there is little information on both the composition and structural characteristics of these communities or the relationship that might exist between these vegetation characteristics and fire behaviour. In this paper we present the results of a characterization of the vegetative structure (plant density, specific composition, biomass fractions, and horizontal and vertical fuel distribution) in Mediterranean gorse. We also analyse fire behaviour using indicators obtained at different scales. Our results show mature Mediterranean gorse shrublands to be communities with high biomass values (3000–4000 g m−2) and high horizontal and vertical vegetation continuity, in which the proportion of fine dead fuel fractions with low moisture content is around 50% of the total phytomass present. Ulex parviflorus is the dominant species and its degree of dominance is a key element in the behaviour of fire. Both the fire-line intensity values and the fire severity values observed can be considered high with respect to those observed in other Mediterranean communities, thus confirming Mediterranean gorse as a high-risk community.

scholarly journals Modelling and quantifying the spatial distribution of post-wildfire ash loads

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris J. Chafer ◽  
Cristina Santín ◽  
Stefan H. Doerr
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Polynomial Regression ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Spectral Ratio ◽  
Landsat 8 ◽  
Applied Model ◽  
Sampling Locations ◽  
Before And After

Ash is generated in every wildfire, but its eco-hydro-geomorphic effects remain poorly understood and quantified, especially at large spatial scales. Here we present a new method that allows modelling the spatial distribution of ash loads in the post-fire landscape, based on a severe wildfire that burnt ~13 600 ha of a forested water supply catchment in October 2013 (2013 Hall Road Fire, 100 km south-west of Sydney, Australia). Employing an existing spectral ratio-based index, we developed a new spectral index using Landsat 8 satellite imagery: the normalised wildfire ash index (NWAI). Before- and after-fire images were normalised and a differenced wildfire ash image (dNWAI) computed. The relationship between dNWAI and ash loads (t ha−1) quantified in situ at nine sampling locations burnt under a range of fire severities was determined using a polynomial regression (R2 = 0.98). A spatially applied model was computed within a geographic information system (GIS) to illustrate the spatial distribution of ash across the area burnt and to estimate ash loads in the five subcatchments affected by the wildfire. Approximately 181 000 tonnes of ash was produced by the wildfire, with specific loads increasing with fire severity. This new tool to model wildfire ash distribution can inform decisions about post-fire land management in future wildfires in the region. It can also be adapted for its application in other fire-prone environments.

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