Improving Fire Behaviour Data Obtained from Wildfires

Filkov, Alexander I.; Duff, Thomas J.; Penman, Trent D.

doi:10.3390/f9020081

Cited by 24 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 60 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In parallel, a new reality has emerged in recent decades in Europe; the appearance of large and extreme wildfires which have not been captured by the type of analysis carried out so far (Moreno et al, ; Moreira et al, ; Fernandes et al, ). In Australia, Filkov et al () report extreme wildfire behaviour for all wildfires greater than 1,000 ha, although this does not mean that they are all EWEs. Large wildfires have also been recorded in Spain since 1994, confirming this year as a turning point the in history of wildfires in Spain (Moreno et al, ; San‐Miguel‐Ayanz, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfire burnt area patterns and trends in Western Mediterranean Europe via the application of a concentration index

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The most widely used metrics to characterize wildfire regime and estimate the impact of wildfires are total burnt area (BA) and the number of fire events (FE). However, these are insufficient to analyse the threat to society of a new fire regime characterized by a higher occurrence of very large events. To overcome this weakness, we propose the use of a Concentration Index (CI B ) which makes it possible to identify spatio-temporal patterns. The frequency distribution of BA follows a negative exponential distribution almost everywhere, in which a small minority of FE is responsible of the majority of BA. In this article, the spatio-temporal behaviour of BA is analysed in Western Mediterranean Europe, with particular focus on Portugal, Spain, France and Italy, using data from the European Forest Fire Information System and national wildfire databases. This is the first time that the CI has been applied to wildfire events. This research shows that, in most Mediterranean European countries, the amount of BA is increasingly related with a lower number of fires. The spatiotemporal distribution of CI B shows high variability in all of the countries analysed in Europe. Portugal and Spain show increasing significant trends of CI B + 7.6% (pvalue = 0.001) and + 1.3% per decade (p-value = 0.003). Statistically significant correlations for Portugal, Spain and Italy are also found between the annual CI B and several teleconnection indices. The application of the CI B demonstrates its discriminatory ability, which is a key point in detecting vulnerable areas and temporal trends under climate change. K E Y W O R D Sconcentration index, extreme wildfire events, fire size, southern Europe, spatio-temporal patterns

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfire burnt area patterns and trends in Western Mediterranean Europe via the application of a concentration index

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Spotting models have been developed with few or sometimes no observations from extreme wildfires, or by using observations only from fires of low-to-moderate intensity. Extreme wildfire observations have historically been too difficult to collect because equipment capable of recording reliable data from a safe distance had not yet been developed (Filkov et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of long-distance spotting during wildfires in south-eastern Australia

Storey

Price

Sharples

et al. 2020

Int. J. Wildland Fire

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We analysed the influence of wildfire area, topography, fuel, surface weather and upper-level weather conditions on long-distance spotting during wildfires. The analysis was based on a large dataset of 338 observations, from aircraft-acquired optical line scans, of spotting wildfires in south-east Australia between 2002 and 2018. Source fire area (a measure of fire activity) was the most important predictor of maximum spotting distance and the number of long-distance spot fires produced (i.e. >500m from a source fire). Weather (surface and upper-level), vegetation and topographic variables had important secondary effects. Spotting distance and number of long-distance spot fires increased strongly with increasing source fire area, particularly under strong winds and in areas containing dense forest and steep slopes. General vegetation descriptors better predicted spotting compared with bark hazard and presence variables, suggesting systems that measure and map bark spotting potential need improvement. The results from this study have important implications for the development of predictive spotting and wildfire behaviour models.

show abstract

“…The most severe effects result from large events that exhibit so‐called “extreme” fire behavior, often involving fire‐atmosphere coupling (Tedim et al, ). Research aimed to better understand the dynamics of wildfires and fire‐atmosphere interaction is hampered by a dearth of observational data, especially from the most extreme events (Filkov et al, ). This review presents a synthesis of the history and capability of meteorological radar applied specifically to wildfire research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wildfire and Weather Radar: A Review

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Research in the pursuit of better understanding of fire behavior and fire‐atmosphere interaction has frequently encountered a dearth of observational data, especially from events that cause most impact. Here we show that meteorological radar has been demonstrated as an effective tool for profiling the microphysics, thermodynamics, and fire behavior feedback of wildfire plumes, including for cases with deep and moist convection occurring in the fire plume. A synthesis of knowledge on the use of radar for the analysis of wildfire is presented, and the new term pyrometeor is introduced to describe the range of scatterers observed by radar, the reflectivity signature of which is determined by interacting processes of wildfire behavior and atmospheric convection. The reflectivity theories of pyrometeors are compared, and it is shown that there are gaps in knowledge on the size distributions of pyrometeors as well as the complex dielectrics. Observational case studies are compared across plume microphysics, plume thermodynamics and deep pyroconvection, and operational usage of radar to monitor wildfire. The dominant hypothesis of reflectivity is scattering from ash particles, though theories for scattering such as from larger debris exist, although evidence is limited for any hypothesis. Vortices have also been identified using Doppler velocity radar data, but there is limited understanding of their cause and influence on fire‐atmosphere interactions. Recommendations are provided for methods and data sets to advance the application of radar for observing and understanding wildfires, including for plume microphysics and atmosphere‐fire interactions.

show abstract

Improving Fire Behaviour Data Obtained from Wildfires

Cited by 24 publications

References 60 publications

Wildfire burnt area patterns and trends in Western Mediterranean Europe via the application of a concentration index

Wildfire burnt area patterns and trends in Western Mediterranean Europe via the application of a concentration index

Drivers of long-distance spotting during wildfires in south-eastern Australia

Wildfire and Weather Radar: A Review

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About