Remote sensing-based fire frequency mapping in a savannah rangeland

Kusangaya, Samuel; Sithole, Vhusomuzi Blessing

doi:10.4314/sajg.v4i1.3

Cited by 10 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Since the 1970s, researchers have considered this area of research to be particularly significant [7,12], and since 1990, numerous studies have been published assessing the contribution of pyrogenic greenhouse gas emissions to total anthropogenic emissions [6,7,[13][14][15]. Estimates now exist for carbon emissions from fires in tropical [15,16] and boreal forests [6,10,14,[17][18][19][20][21], African [22][23][24] and Australian [25] savannas, and steppe regions [26,27]. Numerous works are likewise devoted to assessing the scale and impact of wildfires in the boreal zone of the Northern Hemisphere [10,[19][20][21]28]; however, most authors focus primarily on forestry [10,14,19,20,[29][30][31] and peat fires [32,33], as well as the consequences of agricultural burns in North America [34], Eastern Europe [34][35][36][37], and Asia [38].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yet, such studies inadequately cover meadow and meadow-mire ecosystems, in which fires are characterized by low carbon emissions (when compared to forest ones) [28] but are very frequent due to the significant accumulation of combustible substances. Their characteristic feature is the presence of two 'fire hazard' seasons; this distinguishes meadows of the Russian Far East from Australian bush and African savannas, which are otherwise comparable in terms of the mass of combustible plant material [22,24]. The first period of herb drying is in spring, from the snowmelt until the beginning of active plant growth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Estimating Long-Term Average Carbon Emissions from Fires in Non-Forest Ecosystems in the Temperate Belt

et al. 2022

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Research into pyrogenic carbon emissions in the temperate belt of the Russian Federation has traditionally focused on the impact of forest fires. Nevertheless, ecosystems in which wildfires also make a significant contribution to anthropogenic CO2 emissions are poorly studied. We evaluated the carbon emissions of fires in the non-forest ecosystems of the Middle Amur Lowland, in the Khabarovsk Territory of the Russian Federation. Our study is based on long-term Earth remote sensing data of medium spatial resolution (Landsat 5, 7, and 8) and expeditionary studies (2018–2021). The assessment of carbon directly emitted from wildfires in meadow and meadow–mire temperate ecosystems in the Middle Amur lowland shows that specific emissions from such ecosystems vary, from 1.09 t/ha in dwarf shrub–sphagnum and sphagnum–ledum and sedge–reed fens to 6.01 t/ha in reed–forb, forb, reed, and sedge meadows. Meanwhile, carbon emissions specifically from fires in meadow and meadow–mire ecosystems are less significant—often an order of magnitude less than carbon emissions from forest fires (which reach 37 tC/ha). However, due to their high frequency and the large areas of land burned annually, the total carbon emissions from such fires are comparable to annual emissions from fires in forested areas. The results obtained show that the inadequacy of the methods used in the automatic mapping of burns leads to a significant underestimation of the area of grassland fires and carbon emissions from non-forest fires.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating Long-Term Average Carbon Emissions from Fires in Non-Forest Ecosystems in the Temperate Belt

et al. 2022

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“…Moreover, studies of long-term trends and interannual variability of fires found large year-to-year changes associated with extreme climate conditions (Chen et al, 2013). Combined with climate, fuel moisture and fuel type, which are characteristics of the vegetation, are dependent variables of the ignition and spread of fires (Leblon et al, 2012). Variations in vegetation condition, which can be expressed by vegetation indices, are an important indicator of stress factors for plants, such as drought, and are useful for assessing the susceptibility of vegetation to fires (Bajocco et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Satellite observations for describing fire patterns and climate-related fire drivers in the Brazilian savannas

Mataveli¹,

Silva²,

Pereira

et al. 2018

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. In the Brazilian savannas (Cerrado biome) fires are natural and a tool for shifting land use; therefore, temporal and spatial patterns result from the interaction of climate, vegetation condition and human activities. Moreover, orbital sensors are the most effective approach to establish patterns in the biome. We aimed to characterize fire, precipitation and vegetation condition regimes and to establish spatial patterns of fire occurrence and their correlation with precipitation and vegetation condition in the Cerrado. The Cerrado was first and second biome for the occurrence of burned areas (BA) and hotspots, respectively. Occurrences are higher during the dry season and in the savanna land use. Hotspots and BA tend to decrease, and concentrate in the north, but more intense hotspots are not necessarily located where concentration is higher. Spatial analysis showed that averaged and summed values can hide patterns, such as for precipitation, which has the lowest average in August, but minimum precipitation in August was found in 7 % of the Cerrado. Usually, there is a 2–3-month lag between minimum precipitation and maximum hotspots and BA, while minimum VCI and maximum hotspots and BA occur in the same month. Hotspots and BA are better correlated with VCI than precipitation, qualifying VCI as an indicator of the susceptibility of vegetation to ignition.

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“…Among the orbital sensors available for studying fires, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) active fire and burned area products were the first data sets derived from the new generation of moderate resolution orbital sensors (Giglio et al, 2016) and have been widely used to understand the role and characteristics of fires and biomass burning (Ichoku et al, 2005;Kaiser et al, 2012;Hantson et al, 2013;Shi et al, 2015;Shvetsov and Ponomarev, 2015;Huang et al, 2016). Regarding the tropical savannas, we can mention the use of MODIS active fire and burned area products to analyse fires in the savannas of Brazil (Nascimento et al, 2010;Moreira de Araújo et al, 2012; Moreira de Araújo and Ferreira, 2015), Africa (Archibald et al, 2010;Kusangaya and Sithole 2015), Australia (Andersen et al, 2005;Yates et al, 2008;Maier et al, 2013), and in the entire tropical savannas (Van der Werf et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of fire dynamics in the Brazilian savannas

Mataveli

Silva

Pereira

et al. 2017

Preprint

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Abstract. Wildfires play a key role in the ecology of savannas. The Brazilian savannas (Cerrado biome), where the extension of burned areas and amount of fires can be more numerous than in the Amazon, is frequently burned due to natural fires or land-use and land-cover (LULC) changes. Thus, we aimed to understand the occurrence and the dynamics of fires in the Cerrado using active fire, burned area, precipitation, vegetation condition, estimated using the Vegetation Condition Index (VCI), and LULC data derived from orbital sensors. Results show that the Cerrado was, respectively, the second and first Brazilian biome for the occurrence of hotspots and burned area, which are concentrated during the dry season (May to September), especially in September, when the annual deficit in precipitation and extreme vegetation conditions reached maximum indices. Higher densities of hotspots concentrated in the Northern of the biome, while 75 % of the occurrences were found in the natural remnants of the Cerrado. Totals of hotspots and burned area were higher in years of lower precipitation, such as 2007 and 2010. Spatial correlations showed that hotspots and burned area are better correlated with precipitation than vegetation condition, especially in the Central North and Northeast of the Cerrado.

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Remote sensing-based fire frequency mapping in a savannah rangeland

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 10 publications

References 37 publications

Estimating Long-Term Average Carbon Emissions from Fires in Non-Forest Ecosystems in the Temperate Belt

Estimating Long-Term Average Carbon Emissions from Fires in Non-Forest Ecosystems in the Temperate Belt

Satellite observations for describing fire patterns and climate-related fire drivers in the Brazilian savannas

Analysis of fire dynamics in the Brazilian savannas

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