Assessment of Fire Effects on Surface Runoff Erosion Susceptibility: The Case of the Summer 2021 Forest Fires in Greece

Abstract

The wildfires of summer 2021 in Greece were among the most severe forest fire events that have occurred in the country over the past decade. The conflagration period lasted for 20 days (i.e., from 27 July to 16 August 2021) and resulted in the devastation of an area of more than 3600 Km2. Forest fire events of similar severity also struck other Mediterranean countries during this period. Apart from their direct impacts, forest fires also render an area more susceptible to runoff erosion by massively removing its vegetation, among other factors. It is clear that immediately after a forest fire, most areas are much more susceptible to erosion. In this paper, we evaluate the erosion hazard of Attica, Northern Euboea, and the Peloponnese that were devastated by forest fires during the summer of 2021 in Greece, in comparison with their geological and geomorphological structures, as well as land cover and management. Given that a very significant part of these areas were burnt during the major conflagrations of this summer, erosion risk, as well as flood risk, are expected to be very high, especially for the coming autumn and winter. For the evaluation of erosion risk, the burnt areas were mapped, and the final erosion-risk maps were constructed through GIS software. The final maps suggest that most of the burnt areas are highly susceptible to future surface runoff erosion events.

Mathematical Simulation of Forest Fuel Pyrolysis and Crown Forest Fire Impact for Forest Fire Danger and Risk Assessment

“…Each group of tasks is important in terms of minimizing damage from forest fires. This is equally true for the Russian Federation, Canada, Australia or the countries of Southern Europe [111][112][113][114][115][116][117][118][119][120][121][122][123][124][125]. Perhaps, for the Mediterranean region, these tasks are even more important, since catastrophic forest fires have been observed there in recent years.…”

Operational Mapping and Post-Disaster Hazard Assessment by the Development of a Multiparametric Web App Using Geospatial Technologies and Data: Attica Region 2021 Wildfires (Greece)

“…More precisely, the northern part of the Attica region was affected from Adames in Kifisia to Ippokrateios, Politeia, mainly within the base of Parnitha Mountain. Although the impact included the forest vegetation of the area, an important part of the urban areas of settlements was impacted due to the complexity of the forest and building mixture [1,26].…”

“…Close-to-settlement areas such as coniferous forests, natural vegetation, and agricultural land were affected by the wildfire. The meteorological conditions made it difficult for the fire brigade to put the fire under control despite the smaller extent than the previously mentioned wildfires [1,26].…”

“…The combined use of these Earth observation and GIS-based methodologies was important before and after the wildfire and led to the identification of the vulnerable areas within the affected region. Another study was conducted [26] regarding the 2021 wildfires in Greece in Attica, Evia, and Peloponnese. In that study, the erosion vulnerability to these areas was evaluated after the fire events with the use of a GIS Boolean logic-based model.…”

Hydrological Modeling for Flood Adaptation under Climate Change: The Case of the Ancient Messene Archaeological Site in Greece

“…In Greece, the impact of climate change on cultural and historical sites is already evident. Longer and more intense summer droughts were responsible for the summer fires in 2021, which threatened Ancient Olympia in Peloponnese, and increased erosion risk [10]. The Temple of Apollo Epikourios at Bassae in Peloponnese is extremely vulnerable to extreme weather conditions, especially storms and increased daily temperature variance [11].…”