scholarly journals Unveiling the Factors Responsible for Australia’s Black Summer Fires of 2019/2020

Fire ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Noam Levin ◽  
Marta Yebra ◽  
Stuart Phinn
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Burnt Area ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Average Area ◽  
Southeast Australia ◽  
Large Fires ◽  
Fire Area ◽  
Response Variables

The summer season of 2019–2020 has been named Australia’s Black Summer because of the large forest fires that burnt for months in southeast Australia, affecting millions of Australia’s citizens and hundreds of millions of animals and capturing global media attention. This extensive fire season has been attributed to the global climate crisis, a long drought season and extreme fire weather conditions. Our aim in this study was to examine the factors that have led some of the wildfires to burn over larger areas for a longer duration and to cause more damage to vegetation. To this end, we studied all large forest and non-forest fires (>100 km2) that burnt in Australia between September 2019 and mid-February 2020 (Australia’s Black Summer fires), focusing on the forest fires in southeast Australia. We used a segmentation algorithm to define individual polygons of large fires based on the burn date from NASA’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) active fires product and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) burnt area product (MCD64A1). For each of the wildfires, we calculated the following 10 response variables, which served as proxies for the fires’ extent in space and time, spread and intensity: fire area, fire duration (days), the average spread of fire (area/days), fire radiative power (FRP; as detected by NASA’s MODIS Collection 6 active fires product (MCD14ML)), two burn severity products, and changes in vegetation as a result of the fire (as calculated using the vegetation health index (VHI) derived from AVHRR and VIIRS as well as live fuel moisture content (LFMC), photosynthetic vegetation (PV) and combined photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic vegetation (PV+NPV) derived from MODIS). We also computed more than 30 climatic, vegetation and anthropogenic variables based on remotely sensed derived variables, climatic time series and land cover datasets, which served as the explanatory variables. Altogether, 391 large fires were identified for Australia’s Black Summer. These included 205 forest fires with an average area of 584 km2 and 186 non-forest fires with an average area of 445 km2; 63 of the forest fires took place in southeast (SE) Australia (the area between Fraser Island, Queensland, and Kangaroo Island, South Australia), with an average area of 1097 km2. Australia’s Black Summer forest fires burnt for more days compared with non-forest fires. Overall, the stepwise regression models were most successful at explaining the response variables for the forest fires in SE Australia (n = 63; median-adjusted R2 of 64.3%), followed by all forest fires (n = 205; median-adjusted R2 of 55.8%) and all non-forest fires (n = 186; median-adjusted R2 of 48.2%). The two response variables that were best explained by the explanatory variables used as proxies for fires’ extent, spread and intensity across all models for the Black Summer forest and non-forest fires were the change in PV due to fire (median-adjusted R2 of 69.1%) and the change in VHI due to fire (median-adjusted R2 of 66.3%). Amongst the variables we examined, vegetation and fuel-related variables (such as previous frequency of fires and the conditions of the vegetation before the fire) were found to be more prevalent in the multivariate models for explaining the response variables in comparison with climatic and anthropogenic variables. This result suggests that better management of wildland–urban interfaces and natural vegetation using cultural and prescribed burning as well as planning landscapes with less flammable and more fire-tolerant ground cover plants may reduce fire risk to communities living near forests, but this is challenging given the sheer size and diversity of ecosystems in Australia.

scholarly journals Quantitative Analysis of Forest Fires in Southeastern Australia Using SAR Data

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 2386
Author(s):  
Aqil Tariq ◽  
Hong Shu ◽  
Qingting Li ◽  
Orhan Altan ◽  
Mobushir Riaz Khan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Prescribed Burn ◽  
Backscatter Coefficient ◽  
Prescribed Burns ◽  
Southeastern Australia ◽  
Sar Data ◽  
Sar Imagery

Prescribed burning is a common strategy for minimizing forest fire risk. Fire is introduced under specific environmental conditions, with explicit duration, intensity, and rate of spread. Such conditions deviate from those encountered during the fire season. Prescribed burns mostly affect surface fuels and understory vegetation, an outcome markedly different when compared to wildfires. Data on prescribed burning are crucial for evaluating whether land management targets have been reached. This research developed a methodology to quantify the effects of prescribed burns using multi-temporal Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery in the forests of southeastern Australia. C-band SAR datasets were specifically used to statistically explore changes in radar backscatter coefficients with the intensity of prescribed burns. Two modeling approaches based on pre- and post-fire ratios were applied for evaluating prescribed burn impacts. The effects of prescribed burns were documented with an overall accuracy of 82.3% using cross-polarized backscatter (VH) SAR data under dry conditions. The VV polarization indicated some potential to detect burned areas under wet conditions. The findings in this study indicate that the C-band SAR backscatter coefficient has the potential to evaluate the effectiveness of prescribed burns due to its sensitivity to changes in vegetation structure.

Wildfires and the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index system for the Daxing'anling region of China

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (8) ◽  
pp. 963 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaorui Tian ◽  
Douglas J. McRae ◽  
Jizhong Jin ◽  
Lifu Shu ◽  
Fengjun Zhao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Coniferous Forest ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Fire Danger ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Burnt Area ◽  
Weather Index ◽  
Fire Weather Index

The Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) system was evaluated for the Daxing'anling region of northern China for the 1987–2006 fire seasons. The FWI system reflected the regional fire danger and could be effectively used there in wildfire management. The various FWI system components were classified into classes (i.e. low to extreme) for fire conditions found in the region. A total of 81.1% of the fires occurred in the high, very high and extreme fire danger classes, in which 73.9% of the fires occurred in the spring (0.1, 9.5, 33.3 and 33.1% in March, April, May and June). Large wildfires greater than 200 ha in area (16.7% of the total) burnt 99.2% of the total burnt area. Lightning was the main ignition source for 57.1% of the total fires. Result show that forest fires mainly occurred in deciduous coniferous forest (61.3%), grass (23.9%) and deciduous broad leaved forest (8.0%). A bimodal fire season was detected, with peaks in May and October. The components of FWI system were good indicators of fire danger in the Daxing'anling region of China and could be used to build a working fire danger rating system for the region.

Effects of Forest Fires on Archaeological Resources at Grand Canyon National Park

1987 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Trinkle Jones ◽  
Robert C. Euler
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Grand Canyon ◽  
Cultural Resources ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
The North ◽  
Before And After ◽  
History Of ◽  
Fire Area

For a number of years archaeologists have discussed the effects of forest fires on archaeological resources. Studies under experimental conditions and of sites after they were burned form the bulk of this effort but, for the most part, they have not been published. This article examines the fire history of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and the effects of the Dutton Point wildfire on prehistoric architecture and artifacts—particularly ceramics. Armed with those data, a modest experiment useful in any proposed prescribed fire area containing cultural resources, was designed. This involved “before and after” studies of a ruin that was to be subjected to prescribed burning and included buried temperature controls and the varying effects upon the resource. Finally, a hypothesis regarding the effect of wildfires on archaeological sites is presented.

Comparing the height and area of wild and prescribed fire particle plumes in south-east Australia using weather radar

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Owen F. Price ◽  
Phil J. Purdam ◽  
Grant J. Williamson ◽  
David M. J. S. Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Prescribed Fires ◽  
Maximum Height ◽  
Major Health ◽  
Weather Radars ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Large Particles ◽  
Smoke Pollution ◽  
Large Fires ◽  
Fire Area

Smoke pollution from landscape fires is a major health issue. Prescribed burning aims to reduce the area and impact of wildfire, but itself produces smoke pollution. This raises the question as to whether the smoke production and transport from prescribed fires is substantially different compared to wildfires. We examined the maximum height, width and areal footprint of large-particle plumes from 97 wild and 126 prescribed fires in south-eastern Australia using the existing network of weather radars. Radar detects large particles in smoke (probably those >100 μm) and hence is an imperfect proxy for microfine (<2 μm) particles that are known to affect human health. Of the 223 landscape fires, ~45% of plumes were detected, with the probability being >0.8 for large fires (>100 000 ha) regardless of type, closer than 50 km from the radar. Plume height was strongly influenced by fire area, the height of the planetary boundary layer and fire type. Plume heights differed between wildfire (range 1016–12 206 m, median 3260 m) and prescribed fires (range 706–6397 m, median 1669 m), and prescribed fires were predicted to be 800–1200 m lower than wildfires, controlling for other factors. For both wildfires and prescribed fires, the maximum plume footprint was always near the ground.

scholarly journals PERIODS OF HIGHEST OCCURRENCE OF FOREST FIRES IN BRAZIL

FLORESTA ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 484
Author(s):  
Dayane Lopes Pinto ◽  
Aline Gonçalves Spletozer ◽  
Sergio Guedes Barbosa ◽  
Gumercindo Souza Lima ◽  
Carlos Moreira Miquelino Eleto Torres ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Prevention And Control ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Fire Prevention ◽  
Heat Sources ◽  
Conservation Units ◽  
Burnt Area ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Homogeneous Groups ◽  
And Control

Forest fires affect ecosystems and cause damage that can be minimized by fire prevention programs. The objective was to determine the periods with the highest probability of occurrence of forest fires in Brazil. Heat source records detected by satellites between 1999 and 2014, and the frequency of occurrences of fire and burnt area sizes from 2006 to 2014, were evaluated. A statistical analysis of averages grouping allowed to separate the months with the highest number of heat sources into homogeneous groups, being possible to validate them with the months with the highest record of fires in the Conservation Units, thus defining the normal fire season. The number of heat sources records in Brazil was higher in winter and spring, dry seasons with lower rainfall and higher temperatures, with normal fire season from August to November. The fire occurrences were higher between August and October, with the higher burnt area in September. The periods of highest fire occurrence in Brazil varied between regions according to the climatological characteristics, and therefore strategies for fire prevention and control in vegetation must be intensified during the normal fire season. The period from August to November needs the greatest attention from the public authorities regarding the implementation of prevention and control fire programs. The months September and October make up the normal fire season from all regions of the Brazil.

Performance Evaluation of Fire Risk Map from LSA-SAF over Mediterranean region in 2020

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catarina Alonso ◽  
Célia Gouveia
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Mediterranean Region ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
Radiative Energy ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Risk Map ◽  
Fire Weather Index ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
Burnt Areas

&lt;p&gt;Forest fires have always been present in Mediterranean ecosystems; as such, they constitute a major ecological and socioeconomical issue. Despite being mostly of anthropogenic origin, the influence of the recent increase in temperature and evapotranspiration is associated with an increase in the frequency and severity of wildfires in the region. Large fires are promoted by the occurrence of high temperatures and episodes of drought that may lead to total burnt areas being several times larger than the average, such as the burnt areas in Portugal in 2003 and 2005, and Greece in 2007. The fire season of 2017 in Portugal has been catastrophic by most accounts. The authorities reported more than 100 human fatalities, with about 500.000ha of estimated burnt area, which corresponds to the maximum record since 1980.&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Land Surface Analysis Satellite Applications Facility (LSA SAF) from EUMETSAT operationally disseminates a set of fire related products for the Mediterranean region. The Fire Radiative Power product (FRP-PIXEL) is delivered in near real-time since 2004 with a 15-min temporal resolution. In this work, daily Fire Radiative Energy (FRE) is computed for the Mediterranean region. The Fire Risk Map (FRM) product combines information from the operational forecasts from ECMWF and vegetation state from SEVIRI to derive forecasts of the risk of fire for the Mediterranean region. The FRM algorithm computes the daily values of the set of components of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System (CFFWIS) for Mediterranean Europe, together with levels of fire danger associated with probabilities of occurrence of fires exceeding specified magnitudes. The FRM can be an important tool to support the management of forest fires and the decision making of prescribed burning within the framework of agricultural and forest management practices.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This work aims to assess the performance of the FRM product during 2020 over the Mediterranean region using FRE estimates. In particular, we aim to evaluate if the more severe and intense fires occurred in areas of high fire risk and high probability of occurrence of extreme fires, as obtained using FRM products. This analysis is made for different countries in the Mediterranean Basin, namely Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece. Results reveal a good performance of FRM over the Mediterranean region during 2020; however, better results were observed for the fire season in the Iberian Peninsula than for Italy.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Acknowledgements:&lt;/strong&gt; This study was performed within the framework of the LSA-SAF, co-funded by EUMETSAT This work was partially supported by national funds through FCT (Funda&amp;#231;&amp;#227;o para a Ci&amp;#234;ncia e a Tecnologia, Portugal) under projects FIRECAST (PCIF/GRF/0204/2017) and IMPECAF (PTDC/CTA-CLI/28902/2017).&lt;/p&gt;

Social preferences for fuel break management programs in Spain: a choice modelling application to prevention of forest fires

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elsa Varela ◽  
Marek Giergiczny ◽  
Pere Riera ◽  
Pierre-Alexandre Mahieu ◽  
Mario Soliño
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Economic Valuation ◽  
Fire Prevention ◽  
Mediterranean Forests ◽  
Choice Modelling ◽  
Burnt Area ◽  
Forest Fire Prevention ◽  
Fire Prevention Management

This article reports on an economic valuation study of alternative fire prevention programs in the province of Málaga, southern Spain. The main aim of this study was to explore the social preferences for several forest fire prevention management issues. Fuel break programs were presented that differed in terms of cleaning technique (controlled grazing, prescribed burning and mechanical treatments), design (from traditional linear unshaded fire breaks to more landscape and environmentally friendly structures, such as shaded fuel breaks) and density (linked to annual burnt area). Results show that the population was clearly interested in the potential of the proposed programs to reduce fire. Lessons learnt from this study could be relevant for the development of fire prevention policies and specific prevention campaigns in Mediterranean forests.

scholarly journals Twenty-first century droughts have not increasingly exacerbated fire season severity in the Brazilian Amazon

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Libonati ◽  
J. M. C. Pereira ◽  
C. C. Da Camara ◽  
L. F. Peres ◽  
D. Oom ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Brazilian Amazon ◽  
First Century ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Amazon Forest ◽  
Active Fire ◽  
Fire Activity ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
In Fire

AbstractBiomass burning in the Brazilian Amazon is modulated by climate factors, such as droughts, and by human factors, such as deforestation, and land management activities. The increase in forest fires during drought years has led to the hypothesis that fire activity decoupled from deforestation during the twenty-first century. However, assessment of the hypothesis relied on an incorrect active fire dataset, which led to an underestimation of the decreasing trend in fire activity and to an inflated rank for year 2015 in terms of active fire counts. The recent correction of that database warrants a reassessment of the relationships between deforestation and fire. Contrasting with earlier findings, we show that the exacerbating effect of drought on fire season severity did not increase from 2003 to 2015 and that the record-breaking dry conditions of 2015 had the least impact on fire season of all twenty-first century severe droughts. Overall, our results for the same period used in the study that originated the fire-deforestation decoupling hypothesis (2003–2015) show that decoupling was clearly weaker than initially proposed. Extension of the study period up to 2019, and novel analysis of trends in fire types and fire intensity strengthened this conclusion. Therefore, the role of deforestation as a driver of fire activity in the region should not be underestimated and must be taken into account when implementing measures to protect the Amazon forest.

Detection of Russian Fires Using MOPITT and MODIS Data

2005 ◽  
Vol 277-279 ◽  
pp. 816-823
Author(s):  
Sang Hee Lee ◽  
Gi Hyuk Choi ◽  
Hyo Suk Lim ◽  
Joo Hee Lee ◽  
Kwon Ho Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Eastern China ◽  
Northeast Asia ◽  
Smoke Aerosol ◽  
Modis Data ◽  
Smoke Pollution ◽  
Moderate Resolution ◽  
Large Fires ◽  
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer

The great fires were detected through the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) observations over Northeast Asia. The large amount of smoke produced near Lake Baikal was transported to East Asia using high Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) as seen through the satellite images. The smoke pollution from the Russian forest fires would sometimes reach Korea through Mongolia and eastern China. In May 2003, a number of large fires blazed through eastern Russian, producing a thick, widespread pall of smoke over much of East Asia. This study focuses on the identification of the carbon monoxide (CO) for MOPITT released from MOPITT primarily into East Asia during the Russian Fires. In the wake of the fires, the 700hPa MOPITT retrieved CO concentrations which reached up to 250ppbv. Smoke aerosol retrieval using a separation technique was also applied to the MODIS data observed in 14-22 May 2003. Large AOT, 2.0 ~ 5.0, was observed over Korea on 20 May 2003 due to the influence of the long range transport of smoke aerosol plume from the Russian Fires.

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

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 1477-1490 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Venäläinen ◽  
N. Korhonen ◽  
O. Hyvärinen ◽  
N. Koutsias ◽  
F. Xystrakis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
National Level ◽  
Temporal Variations ◽  
Fire Danger ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Fire Weather Index ◽  
Current Season ◽  
Forest Fire Danger

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.

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