Calibration of the Fire Weather Index over Mediterranean Europe based on fire activity retrieved from MSG satellite imagery

Here we present a procedure that allows the operational generation of daily maps of fire danger over Mediterranean Europe. These are based on integrated use of vegetation cover maps, weather data and fire activity as detected by remote sensing from space. The study covers the period of July–August 2...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of wildland fire Vol. 23; no. 7; pp. 945 - 958
Main Authors: DaCamara, Carlos C, Calado, Teresa J, Ermida, Sofia L, Trigo, Isabel F, Amraoui, Malik, Turkman, Kamil F
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Roslyn CSIRO Publishing 01.01.2014
CSIRO
Subjects:
Europe
fire hazard
Fire hazards
Fire prevention
fire weather
Forest & brush fires
Information systems
Meteorological data
Meteorological satellites
Parameters
Remote sensing
risk
Satellite imagery
Satellites
Statistical models
Surface analysis (chemical)
Upper class
Vegetation
Vegetation cover
Weather
Wildfires
wildland fire management
Europe
Portugal
MED
ANE, Europe
ISSN:1049-8001, 1448-5516
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Here we present a procedure that allows the operational generation of daily maps of fire danger over Mediterranean Europe. These are based on integrated use of vegetation cover maps, weather data and fire activity as detected by remote sensing from space. The study covers the period of July–August 2007 to 2009. It is demonstrated that statistical models based on two-parameter generalised Pareto (GP) distributions adequately fit the observed samples of fire duration and that these models are significantly improved when the Fire Weather Index (FWI), which rates fire danger, is integrated as a covariate of scale parameters of GP distributions. Probabilities of fire duration exceeding specified thresholds are then used to calibrate FWI leading to the definition of five classes of fire danger. Fire duration is estimated on the basis of 15-min data provided by Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellites and corresponds to the total number of hours in which fire activity is detected in a single MSG pixel during one day. Considering all observed fire events with duration above 1h, the relative number of events steeply increases with classes of increasing fire danger and no fire activity was recorded in the class of low danger. Defined classes of fire danger provide useful information for wildfire management and are based on the Fire Risk Mapping product that is being disseminated on a daily basis by the EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facility on Land Surface Analysis.
Bibliography:http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/WF13157
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ISSN:1049-8001
1448-5516
DOI:10.1071/WF13157