T he aim of this work consi.sts of monitoring the recovcry process a&r jiw by mean.s of satellite imagery. The objective,s are to a.s.sess the regrowth pathways followed by diflerent species populations after a disturbance, to analyze the speed of recovery in the years JXlowing fire, and, finally, to estimate rate.s of regrowth. The test area is located in the north of the province of Alicante, on the Mediterranean coast (If Spain. This area, e%specially prone to forest j&s, show.s a remarkable land-use histoq and human pressure. The test areas belong to dicfcrent microclimatic xnes, shozc; diverse tiegetation communities, and have diflerent degrees of .stoniness; so we attempted to discover their post&-e behaviors according to their biogeographical conditions. To accomplish these objectives, we used nine Landsat 5 thematic mapper images from 1984 to IYY4 to which geometric and radiometric corrections were applied. Once the comparability betu>ecn images was guaranteed, we generated a normalized diflercncc vegetation index (NDVL) for each date. First, ux rlelrlonstr~~tclcl that the t1iflerence.s between ND\? itt1agcJ.s were snitablc for mappin, 0 hwned areas. Second, we nndertook a nonlinear regression analysis between NDVI values and the time elapsed .since the jire to a.s.se,s.s the recocety processes. The exponential adjustment between NDVI and time was in accord with the asyn@otic bellacior observed ~chen the rNmX?t7J process is complete. The paramcter,s supplied by the proposed tncthod arc' helpjid in yuanti$jng the ejt2cct.s of jire on dijj%rerrt eco- .

Abstract.A mesoscale model (MM5), a dispersive Langrangian particle model (FLEXPART), and intensive meteorological and COrrelation SPECtrometer (COSPEC) measurements from a field campaign are used to examine the advection and turbulent diffusion patterns associated with interactions and forcings between topography, synoptic atmospheric flows and thermally-driven circulations. This study describes the atmospheric dispersion of emissions from a power plant with a 343-m tall chimney, situated on very complex terrain in the North-East of Spain, under winter conditions. During the field campaign, the plume was transported with low transversal dispersion and deformed essentially due to the effect of mechanical turbulence. The main surface impacts appeared at long distances from the emission source (more than 30 km). The results show that the coupled models (MM5 and FLEXPART) are able to predict the plume integral advection from the power plant on very complex terrain. Integral advection and turbulent dispersion are derived from the dispersive Lagrangian model output for three consecutive days so that a direct quantitative comparison has been made between the temporal evolution of the predicted threedimensional dispersive conditions and the COSPEC measurements. Comparison between experimental and simulated transversal dispersion shows an index of agreement between 80% and 90%, within distance ranges from 6 to 33 km from the stack. Linked to the orographic features, the simulated plume impacts on the ground more than 30 km away from the stack, because of the lee waves simulated by MM5.

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