A tuning-free wildfire detection algorithm reveals the impact of both Chornobyl wildfires and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022

Abstract

The 2020 wildfires in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone (ChEZ) have caused widespread public concern about the potential risk of radiation exposure from radionuclides resuspended and redistributed due to the fires. In this study, we developed a tuning-free wildfire detection algorithm (TuFda) to perform rapid detection of burned areas for the purpose of immediate post-fire assessment. We applied TuFda to detect wildfires in the ChEZ during the spring of 2022. The size of the burned areas in February and March was estimated as 0.4 km2 and 70 km2, respectively. We also applied the algorithm to other areas outside the boundaries of the ChEZ and detected land surface changes totaling 553 km2 in northern Ukraine between February and March 2022. These changes may have occurred as a result of the Russian invasion. This study is the first to identify areas in northern Ukraine impacted by both wildfires and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Our algorithm facilitates the rapid provision of accurate information on significant land surface changes whether caused by wildfires, military action, or any other factor.

Threats to sustainability in face of post-pandemic scenarios and the war in Ukraine

“…Journal Pre-proof species, including rare, relict and endemic species [60], the impacts on biodiversity remain largely unassessed. Nonetheless, as perhaps the first armed conflict taking place online, or, as, collectively, the internet has called it, "The Most Online War of All Time Until the Next One" [61], there are numerous descriptions of the conflict's toll the environment, exemplified by explosions, wildfires, deforestation or oils spills from sinking ships [62][63][64]. All of this, of course, is preceded by the necessary steps to prepare for conflict, as readiness requires transport, housing, training of personnel and weapon testing, all of which has impacts on the immediate surroundings [59].…”