WEB-ORIENTED GEOINFORMATION SYSTEM OF FOREST FIRE DANGER ESTIMATION (ON EXAMPLE OF THE PROLETARIAN FOREST AREA OF UKRAINE)

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 47-55
Author(s):  
N. V. BARANOVSKIY ◽  
◽  
M. V. ZHARIKOVA ◽  
Author(s):  
Liqing Si ◽  
Lifu Shu ◽  
Mingyu Wang ◽  
Fengjun Zhao ◽  
Feng Chen ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 2157-2167 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Schunk ◽  
C. Wastl ◽  
M. Leuchner ◽  
C. Schuster ◽  
A. Menzel

Abstract. Forest fire danger rating based on sparse meteorological stations is known to be potentially misleading when assigned to larger areas of complex topography. This case study examines several fire danger indices based on data from two meteorological stations at different elevations during a major drought period. This drought was caused by a persistent high pressure system, inducing a pronounced temperature inversion and its associated thermal belt with much warmer, dryer conditions in intermediate elevations. Thus, a massive drying of fuels, leading to higher fire danger levels, and multiple fire occurrences at mid-slope positions were contrasted by moderate fire danger especially in the valleys. The ability of fire danger indices to resolve this situation was studied based on a comparison with the actual fire danger as determined from expert observations, fire occurrences and fuel moisture measurements. The results revealed that, during temperature inversion, differences in daily cycles of meteorological parameters influence fire danger and that these are not resolved by standard meteorological stations and fire danger indices (calculated on a once-a-day basis). Additional stations in higher locations or high-resolution meteorological models combined with fire danger indices accepting at least hourly input data may allow reasonable fire danger calculations under these circumstances.


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1477-1490 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Venäläinen ◽  
N. Korhonen ◽  
O. Hyvärinen ◽  
N. Koutsias ◽  
F. Xystrakis ◽  
...  

Abstract. Understanding how fire weather danger indices changed in the past and how such changes affected forest fire activity is important in a changing climate. We used the Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI), calculated from two reanalysis data sets, ERA-40 and ERA Interim, to examine the temporal variation of forest fire danger in Europe in 1960–2012. Additionally, we used national forest fire statistics from Greece, Spain and Finland to examine the relationship between fire danger and fires. 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 shows an increasing trend for southern and eastern Europe which is significant at the 99% confidence level. The cross correlations calculated at the national level in Greece, Spain and Finland between total area burned and mean FWI of the current season is of the order of 0.6, demonstrating the extent to which the current fire-season weather can explain forest fires. To summarize, fire risk is multifaceted, and while climate is a major determinant, other factors can contribute to it, either positively or negatively.


2014 ◽  
Vol 123 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Bedia ◽  
S. Herrera ◽  
A. Camia ◽  
J. M. Moreno ◽  
J. M. Gutiérrez

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