Spatio-temporal patterns of wildfires in the Niassa Reserve –Mozambique, using remote sensing data

Abstract

Wildfires are among the biggest factors of ecosystem change. Knowledge of fire regime 12 (fire frequency, severity, intensity, seasonality, and distribution pattern) is an important factor in 13 wildfire management. This paper aims to analyze the spatiotemporal patterns of fires and burned 14 areas in the Niassa Reserve between 2002-2015 using MODIS data, active fire product (MCD14ML) 15 and burned area product (MCD64A1). For this, the annual and monthly frequencies, the trend of 16 fires and the frequency by types of forest cover were statistically analyzed. For the analysis of the 17 spatial dynamics of forest fires we used the Kernel density (Fixed Method). The results show a 18 total of 20.449 forest fires and 171.067 km² of burned areas in the period 2002-2015. Fire incidents 19 were highest in 2015, while the largest burned areas were recorded in 2007. The relationship 20between increased fires and burned areas is not linear. There was a tendency for fires to increase, 21 while for burnt areas there was stabilization. Forest fires start in May and end in December. 22August-October are the most frequent period, peaking in September. Fires occur predominantly 23 in deciduous forests and mountain forests because of the type of vegetation and the amount of dry 24 biomass. There is a monthly spatial dynamics of wildfires from east to west in the reserve. This 25 behavior is dependent on vegetation cover type, fuel availability, and senescence. 26

Wildfire Risk Zonation of Sudurpaschim Province, Nepal

“…Siwalik and Terai regions have more deciduous Sal forests in this province (Figure 3A). A large amount of dry biomass accumulated under deciduous Sal forest (Nhongo et al 2020) significantly accelerates wildfire. Thus, Siwalik and Terai regions are under high wildfire risk zone (Sharma et al 2015).…”

Spatial and temporal monitoring of wildfires in Golestan province using remote sensing data

“…Wildfire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation that affects the earth's surface, atmosphere and human life (Bahadur Bhujel et al, 2022). Around 4 percent of the global forest burns every year (Bahadur Bhujel et al, 2022), which depends on various factors such as weather, type of vegetation and structure, fuel moisture, land use, and human activities (Nhongo et al, 2020). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that climate change is often the dominant factor affecting large wildfires (Shi & Touge, 2022).…”

“…Knowledge of the wildfire regime (frequency, intensity, and distribution pattern) is important in forest wildfire management. For example, spatio-temporal wildfire patterns can provide important information in understanding wildfire behavior and regime (Nhongo et al, 2020). Therefore, to create wildfire prevention and management strategies, it is necessary to understand spatial and temporal patterns of wildfires, that is, to know where, when, and why they occur (Nhongo et al, 2020;Zhang et al, 2023).…”

Assessment of conservation status of riparian vascular plant species in a dry season exposed flood plain area of the Incalaue river catchment, Niassa Special Reserve, Northern Mozambique

“…The area is hilly with mainly sandy soils that dry-up easily as the dry season grows upstream. The NSR has been reported to have a higher fire frequency, especially in areas with human settlements and related land use, which is a threat for riparian plant species [23][24][25]. This makes it important to derive seasonal facts and figures to support the conservation of vegetation species, composition and diversity [26].…”