scholarly journals Assessment of the Consequences of Forest Fires in 2020 on the Territory of the Chornobyl Radiation and Ecological Biosphere Reserve

2021 ◽  
Vol 24 (8) ◽  
pp. 26-36
Author(s):  
Tetiana Fedoniuk ◽  
Oleksandr Borsuk ◽  
Taras Melnychuk ◽  
Anastasia Zymaroieva ◽  
Viktor Pazych

The article presents the consequences of fires that occurred on the territory Chornobyl Radiation and Ecological Biosphere Reserve in April 2020. Research shows that the results of these events characterized as catastrophic. The condition of forests after fires was assessed using satellite data and field trips to review the condition of forests affected by wildfires. The total area affected by the fire in 4 foci was 51,806.5 hectares. The total area of fires in the exclusion zone is 66,222.5 hectares. About 25% of the territories affected by the fires have changed. To preserve the landscape diversity and mosaic of areas covered and not covered with forest vegetation, it is impractical to conduct afforestation (afforestation of fallows) on the territory of the reserve. Among the forests affected by fires, the majority has a high ecological and forestry potential and, accordingly, a high potential for natural recovery (81.6%). In dead forests, the share with a high potential for natural reforestation is slightly lower and amounts to 66.8%. The share of forests with low natural recovery potential is low and amounts to 1.9% and 4.8% in forests affected by fires and dead, respectively. Significantly damaged, and sometimes destroyed, were a number of rare settlements, which are not only important for nature conservation, but also classified by the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention (Resolution 4) as particularly valuable settlements, as well as the “Green Book of Ukraine” (2009). 2 groups were marked as excessively damaged on the territory of the reserve. It should be noted that there is a slight general violation of the protected core of this object of the nature reserve fund, which will allow it to preserve its environmental potential and the functions of protecting and reproducing biodiversity. Most of the areas of the reserve affected by fires have a high forestry potential and are able to recover independently, so they do not require intervention in natural processes for reforestation. The degree of transformation of the ground cover in pine and oak-pine forests of the reserve under the influence of pyrogenic factor is determined by the intensity of the fire. Reforestation in areas with low forest potential should be carried out with clear planning

2020 ◽  
pp. 11-18
Author(s):  
I.I. Ustinova ◽  
◽  
M.M. Dyomin ◽  
G.V. Aylikova ◽  
◽  
...  

The aim of the publication is to determine the prerequisites of and to elaborate on the foundations of the Exclusion Zone reintegration in order to address the issue of rational development of urban-planning documentation complex regarding the legitimacy of said territory exploitation. It is established that for the implementation of the «Radioactive waste management strategy» the production complex «Vector» is being constructed on the Exclusion Zone territory; a powerful park of renewable energy generation is being created to implement the «Chornobyl - a Territory of Change» strategy; a Chornobyl Radiation-Ecological Biosphere Reserve was established to support and increase the barrier function of the zone; in order to promote the Safe Chornobyl brand-name, the tourist traffic is being increased and the conditions for the visitors are improving. In the absence of developed and approved city planning documentation, the listed above causes the problem of legitimacy and rationality of the exclusion zone territory use. The paper for the first time raises the question of the need to elaborate the concept of functional planning of the Chornobyl NPP exclusion zone territory and the development of the design-planning complex (urban planning documentation): from the territory.


1998 ◽  
Vol 37 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 331-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Garbaciak ◽  
Philip Spadaro ◽  
Todd Thornburg ◽  
Richard Fox

Sequential risk mitigation approaches the remediation of contaminated sediments in three phases designed to: (1) immediately reduce the ecological and human health risks associated with high levels of contamination, using methods such as the confinement or capping of high-risk materials; (2) reduce the risks associated with moderate levels of pollution to a minimum, on a less urgent schedule and at a lower cost; and (3) address areas of limited contamination through a combination of natural recovery and enhanced natural recovery (to aid or speed those natural processes). Natural recovery, the reduction of contaminant concentrations through natural processes, is based on the practical observation that overall ecosystem recovery appears to be largely a function of time. Sediment decomposition and the mixing of new and old sediments by bottom-dwelling organisms can both contribute to reduced contaminant concentrations. Knowledge of these processes--sediment decomposition, sediment mixing by bottom-dwelling organisms, and chemical residence time is critical in the development of appropriate ecosystem recovery and waste management strategies. Evaluations to support natural recovery predictions are designed to collect and evaluate information necessary to determine whether surface sediment chemical concentrations, with adequate source control, will reach the cleanup standards within a ten-year period.


Author(s):  
Victor Movenko ◽  

Urgency of the Research. Thirty-five years have passed since the Chernobyl accident. During this time, the environment has undergone constant changes under the influence of natural and human factors. Knowledge of these changes is impossible without the separation of anthropogenic processes from natural, which is why they organize special observations on various parameters of the biosphere, which change as a result of human activity. It is in the observation of the environment, the assessment of its actual state, and the forecasting of its development, that the essence of monitoring of radiation pollution of the territory of the Chernobyl zone is under the present conditions. Target setting. Investigation of modern technological procedures and technical means of monitoring to further create a system of integrated radiological control of the environment will ensure the prevention and elimination of negative changes in the state of the environment in the territory of both the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (ChEZ) and throughout Ukraine. Actual scientific researches and issues analysis. Recent publications and reports on open access concerning the problems of monitoring of radiation pollution of the Chernobyl zone in the current conditions have been considered. Uninvestigated parts of general matters defining. Maintaining integrated radio-ecological environmental monitoring in areas where radiation hazards are located requires constant monitoring and monitoring of the radiation environment in the environment in order to determine its level of contamination and respond quickly to emergencies and prevent possible radiation accidents, as well as to prevent their occurrence. and the environment. The research objective. Comprehensive monitoring of radiation pollution requires the adaptation of the RODOS system to the conditions of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and potential specific sources of emissions in the ChEZ, the creation of a complete register of collected data for the adaptation of the RODOS system to the conditions of the ChEZ, a systematic description of sources of emissions from forest fires, fires, during the decommissioning of the ChNPP. The statement of basic materials. The article deals with the issues of integrated radio-ecological monitoring of the environment in the areas of radiation hazard objects, the use of an automated radiation monitoring system (ASCRO), the implementation of a real time decision support system in response to nuclear accidents - RODOS in Chernobyl. Conclusions. The implementation of ASCRO and RODOS systems in the Chernobyl zone has allowed to create a comprehensive system of radio-ecological environmental monitoring of the state, regional and local levels, which is intended to solve the main tasks of environmental safety management, including, at high risk objects.


2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 911 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Leonardo Martínez-Torres ◽  
Alicia Castillo ◽  
M. Isabel Ramírez ◽  
Diego R. Pérez-Salicrup

The use of fire for traditional agriculture, animal husbandry and forestry is highly important to farmers in developing countries where this practice is continuously blamed as being the main cause of forest fires. That is the case in the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR), Mexico, where paradoxically, little is known about the inhabitants’ traditional uses of fire. In this study we characterise fire users, describe traditional fire uses and identify the ecological and social rules involved in the use of fire in the MBBR. Through participant observation and semi-structured interviews we found a robust body of knowledge among local people regarding the geophysical and ecological factors determining fire behaviour. This information is transferred orally and through everyday practices from parents to children. We identified nine types of fire uses. The most common is ‘mound burns’, which entails a process of extraction-piling-drying-burning of weeds from agricultural fields. Social rules are aimed at decreasing the risk of forest fires. Our results suggest there is a traditional fire knowledge system in the MBBR that has undergone changes and has adapted to the ecological and social reality of the region during the past few decades.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 (1) ◽  
pp. 2369-2388
Author(s):  
Abner P. Barnuevo ◽  
Resurreccion B. Sadaba

ABSTRACT The MT Solar I oil spill that released over 2 million liters of bunker C oil in Guimaras in August 2006 affected mangrove forest in varying degrees from acute damages, sublethal stresses and long term effects. Although the incident caused only <1 ha deforestation, large scale mangrove planting has been implemented as part of response initiatives without inference to scientific assessment of the natural recovery potential of the damaged habitat. The response and intervention in the aftermath of the oil spill primarily involved planting mangroves. This study assessed the mangrove recruitment and colonization in two deforested mangrove areas in Guimaras, Philippines and evaluated whether replanting was necessary as part of intervention. Results on reconstructed age extrapolated from the internodal index showed that recruitment started to take place one and two years after the spill in Site 1 (3.33% of tagged wildings) and Site 2 (11.67%) respectively. However, the wilding establishment in the former site was impaired in the succeeding years and maintained at very low numbers (0.07–0.15 m−2) whereas wilding establishment was high in Site 2 (2.19–3.31 per m−2). The difference between sites is statistically significant (P<0.0001). The marked difference between sites is attributed to the prevailing interventions and persistent disturbances. The extraction of dead trees and downed wood in Site 1 impaired the progress of recovery and was further compounded by persistent disturbances brought by the socioeconomic activities, whereas, non-intervention in Site 2 favored the progress of natural recovery. Eight years after the incident, the colonizers in Site 2 were already reproductively mature as some already developed flowers. This study highlighted the capacity of mangroves to recover from perturbations as long as the geomorphological features of the habitats are not altered. The large-scale mangrove planting implemented in the affected areas is deemed unnecessary given that one year after the incident recruitment started to progress. Thus, future oil spill responses and interventions should carefully assess the natural recovery processes of the impacted areas first, before proceeding to large scale mangrove planting programs. Otherwise, the good intentions of implementing faster recovery of mangroves and other impacted habitats may be considered a waste of public funds and a futile effort vis-à-vis practicality.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (154) ◽  
pp. 333-338
Author(s):  
S. Azarov ◽  
R. Shevchenko ◽  
S. Shcherbak

The paper deals with the problem of formation of general procedures for experimental study of environmental impact due to forest fire in complex radiation conditions of fire load formation and its further testing on the example of the ChNPP exclusion zone. The study carried out an experimental verification of the adequacy of the previously proposed methodological apparatus and identified the main directions of its further use as a basis for solving the problems of predicting the negative environmental impact on the environment. To this end, the following tasks have been solved:the general procedures of the methodology of experimental study of environmental impact due to forest fire in complex radiation conditions of fire load formation are formulated; a comprehensive experimental study was carried out using the developed method on the example of the fire load of the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Conducted studies in the field indicate that the content of radioactive smoke in the ground atmosphere of the Exclusion Zone can be dramatically increased by several orders of magnitude due to forest fires. Short-term (sever-al days) increased content of radioactive combustion products in the surface air can reach the level of radiation hazard for both the environment and directly for the life of the population living in a clean area at considerable distances (up to 30 km along the track axis) wildfire. The fires in the forests contaminated with Chornobyl radionuclide in the western trace due to the loss of TUE are of particular environmental danger, since the presence of plutonium combustion products in radioactive products results in significant dose loads for the environment and the population. The practical significance of the obtained results lies in the possibility of their application for carrying out complex ecological audit of the territory, which is subject to secondary radiation influence both inside and outside the exclusion zone of the Chornobyl NPP. Keywords: ecological safety, forest fire, radiation exposure, complex fire load


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romeo de Jesús Barrios Calderón ◽  
Dulce Infante Mata ◽  
José Germán Flores Garnica ◽  
Jony Ramiro Torres Velázquez ◽  
Zulia Mayari Sánchez-Mejía ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Tropical freshwater forested wetlands in coastal regions are rapidly disappearing, one of the causes is forest fires. This is caused by high accumulation of fuel beds that can vary in origin and type. Therefore, the objective of this study was to characterize the fuel beds in tropical freshwater forested wetlands with three different level of disturbance at El Castaño, La Encrucijada Biosphere Reserve.Methods: Seventeen sampling units were used to described the strates of forest fuel beds (canopy, sub-canopy and understory) in both the vertical and horizontal stratum. Quantity and quality of dead (fallen woody material, surface litterfall and fermented litterfall) fuels were characterized using the planars intersections technique.Results: A total of eight tree species, two shrubs, five lianas and two herbaceous species were found in tropical freshwater forested wetlands. The vertical structure concentrates the highest proportion of trees between 2 and 12 m high, including the first two defined height classes. The horizontal structure denotes a higher percentage of trees with a normal diameter between 2.5 to 7.5 cm (61.4%) of the total. The sites none disturbance presented the highest arboreal density (2,686 ind. ha− 1), however the highest basal area was found in the sites with medium disturbance (39.41 m2 ha− 1). The richness and diversity of species shows that the Fisher, Margalef, Shannon and Simpson α indices were higher in the sites undisturbed, while the Berger-Parker index shows greater dominance in the sites high disturbance. Pachira aquatica Aubl. was the species with the highest importance value index, and contributes the most to the fuel beds. The average accumulation of dead fuel beds was higher in sites with high disturbance (222.18 ± 33.62 t ha− 1), with the largest accumulations of woody fuels occurring in the 1 h, 10 h and 1000 h classes, the latter in a state of fermentation.Conclusions: It’s important to consider the probability of occurrence of surface fires is high. In these tropical freshwater forested wetlands, independent of disturbance, underground fires have the same probability and the intensity will depend on the depth of the organic matter layer. This study contributes define fire-prone areas in these ecosystems. The results are of great importance to design fire prevention strategies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 163-171
Author(s):  
Petr Popikov ◽  
Anton Pozdnyakov

The paper provides an overview of research on the working processes of screw working bodies of technological machines. It is noted that at present such important issues in the theory of auger working bodies as the required number of auger turns, the required position of the auger spiral in relation to the center, etc. have not been fully resolved, since the solution of these issues can provide an increased productivity of the tool. A structural and technological scheme of a forest fire machine with multifunctional modules is proposed, which consists of auger working bodies, which can be changed modularly with a screw metal thread for a brush, depending on the area and type of soil, the rotor of the thrower, with the ability to drive the cutters-throwers and auger working bodies both from the power take-off shaft of the tractor, and using a hydraulic motor, a guide casing. A mathematical model of an auger working body with a hydraulic drive has been compiled for removing the ground cover with forest litter when extinguishing forest fires with a ground gun, so that combustible materials do not fall into the fire zone together with the soil flow from the rotor-thrower. The working process of the hydraulic drive of the auger working bodies of a forest fire ground-sweeping machine is described by a system of differential equations, including the equations of translational and rotational movements of the auger working body and the equation of the flow rate of the working fluid. The problem of optimization of kinematic and dynamic parameters of auger working bodies of forest fire ground-sweeping machine is set


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