Forest fire in India: a review of the knowledge base

Abstract

Forest fire has profound impacts on atmospheric chemistry, biogeochemical cycling and ecosystem structure. This feedback interaction may be hastened in climate change scenarios. In view of this, the present day knowledge about the forest fire condition in India has been reviewed. Operational monitoring, geospatial modelling and climate change uncertainties are discussed. Indicators for forest fire assessment and the role of geoinformatics tools in developing those parameters are identified. The need for developing an adaptive management strategy from the existing experience is emphasized, and specific points are recommended sector-wise with short-and long-term visions.

Mapping and Inventory of Forest Fires in Andhra Pradesh, India: Current Status and Conservation Needs

“…SWIR channel is considered more suitable for identifying hotspots, since the maximum Planck black body radiance shifts to shorter wavelengths as temperature increases. The usefulness of the SWIR channel has long been recognized for monitoring forest fires [1,13]. analysis [21].…”

“…Currently several satellite-based sensors like AWiFS, LISS-III, MODIS, ETM + , SPOT, AATSR, AVHRR, and MODIS provide synergistic datasets that have potential in forest fire detection, inventory, mapping, and damage assessment [1]. Forest burnt areas have a typical spectral signature, especially if analysed by a multitemporal approach because of the different ground coverage between prefire (vegetation) and postfire (white ash, black ash, bare soil, and dead vegetation) conditions [14].…”

“…a requirement of national level precise burnt area assessment using high-and moderate-resolution satellite data in addressing the various issues like reliable assessment in terms of area, number of patches and spatial spread, base line information for temporal monitoring and fire recurrence assessment, identification and prioritization of vulnerable areas, understanding the impacts on regeneration, succession, biodiversity and wildlife, assessment in terms of Green House Gas Emissions towards national communication, scope for developing web enabled national forest burnt area reporting system, and fire mitigation planning [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13].…”

“…Fires affect the species composition, structure, pattern of vegetation, biomass, and consequently cause significant damage to the tropical forests [1,2]. Globally, more than 350 million ha of forests were burned in 2000, an area of nearly equal to the size of India [3].…”

Nationwide Assessment of Forest Burnt Area in India Using Resourcesat-2 AWiFS Data

“…However, large fires damage the forest in many ways because of increased intensity and frequency 12 . A recent study had reviewed the situation of forest fires in India 13 . Annually 6.34 Tg of CO 2 emissions have been estimated from forest biomass burning in India 14 .…”