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)

Abstract

The environmental effects of wildfires are a hot issue in current research. This study examines the effects of the 2021 wildfires in the Attica region in Greece based on Earth observation and GIS-based techniques for the development of a web app that includes the derived knowledge. The effects of wildfires were estimated with the use of Sentinel-2 satellite imagery concerning burned area extent and burn severity using a NBR-based method. In addition, the erosion risk was modeled on a pre-fire and post-fire basis with the RUSLE. This study highlights the importance of assessing the effects of wildfires with a holistic approach to produce useful knowledge tools in post-fire impact assessment and restoration.

Employing Copernicus Land Service and Sentinel-2 Satellite Mission Data to Assess the Spatial Dynamics and Distribution of the Extreme Forest Fires of 2023 in Greece

“…A commonly employed approach for gauging the severity of a forest fire involves utilizing the Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR). This index assesses the pre-fire and post-fire severity of a designated area by analyzing the low and high reflectance of objects in the Near Infrared (NIR) and Shortwave-Infrared (SWIR), respectively, as captured in satellite imagery [5,20].…”

“…In fact, forest fires have often been considered one of the most impactful and prevalent disasters in recent times [3,4], especially as climate change causes a constant increase in temperatures and affects an area's weather conditions. Specifically, climate change causes climatic phenomena, such as droughts and heat waves, which have an impact on the general frequency of wildfire occurrences [5][6][7]. Additionally, according to Malandra et al [8], human activities tend to change and shape the natural environment directly due to agricultural [1] or reforestation practices, which affect the abundance of potential natural fuel in the form of tree density.…”

“…In particular, aside from the direct danger to human lives, forest fires are responsible for changes in the behavioral patterns of wildlife, as previous nesting locations may have been lost with the burning of an area [3,12]. Additionally, fires destroy local vegetation and alter soil composition, which may lead to reduced ground intrusion of rainwater, effectively increasing surface runoff and the severity of natural hazards such as the rapid erosion of soil or flooding [5][6][7][12][13][14][15][16]. Furthermore, patches of burned ground are often irreversibly altered as local flora struggles to regrow, thus slowing down the overall vegetation recovery rate of the affected area [13,14,17,18].…”

“…One common method for assessing forest fire burn severity is the use of the Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR). This index evaluates pre-fire and post-fire severity in a designated area by analyzing low and high reflectance in the Near Infrared (NIR) and Shortwave-Infrared (SWIR) from satellite images [5,20]. In 2006, ref.…”

“…Thus, some researchers have opted to compare the burn severity of a forest fire to data such as tree coverage or density and the soil or vegetation type attributed to the burned patches [2,8,23]. One of the most accessible sources of open data on tree density and land cover is provided by the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service, which has been used to research the forest fire of Attica, Greece, in the summer of 2021 [5,29]. The free and openly distributed nature of the Copernicus Land Monitoring data renders them an undeniably useful tool for quick and accurate forest fire burn severity studies.…”