An integrated decision support system for improving wildfire suppression management

Funding Information: This work was financially supported by FCT (National Foundation of Science and Technology) within the Research Unit CTS?Centre of Technology and Systems, UIDB/00066/2020, and the Project forester (PCIF/SSI/0102/2017). We would like to thank the authorities from the municipality of Ma??o, in particular to Engineer Ant?nio Louro, for the valuable support in establishing the user requirements and the feedback for the system?s validation. Special thanks to the Adjunct of National Operations in the National Command of Security Operations (CNOS) part of the National Authority of Civil Protection (ANPC) Alexandre Penha, for their input in the early stages of this work.Wildfires are expected to increase in number, extent, and severity due to climate change. Hence, it is ever more important to integrate technological developments and scientific knowledge into fire management aiming at protecting lives, infrastructure, and the environment. In this paper, a decision support system (DSS) adapted to the Portuguese context and based on multi-sensor technologies and geographic information system (GIS) functionalities is proposed to leverage operational data, enabling faster and more informed decisions to reduce the impact of wildfires. Here we present a flexible and reconfigurable DSS composed of three components: an ArcGIS online feature service that provides operational data and enables a collaborative environment of users that share operational data in near real-time; a mobile client application to interact with the system, enabling the use of GIS technology and visualization dashboards; and a multi-sensor device that collects field data providing value to external services. The design and validation of this system benefitted from the feedback of wildfire management specialists and a partnership with an end-user in the municipality of Mação that also helped establish the system requirements. The validation results demonstrated that a robust system was achieved with fully interoperable components that fulfill the defined system requirements.publishersversionpublishe

Information System for Environmental Technologies

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) play an important role in environmental management solutions, and they are being used with increasing frequency in environmental studies. The use of GIS technology in environmental studies provides a better way to manage, analyze, display and share the information. In this thesis, I automated a process for constructing GIS maps of odor complaints and inspections that have been used to study odor complaints in the vicinity of three landfills in Jefferson Parish. I provided an application that integrates daily environmental observation and monitoring data into a GIS and publishes the resulting maps through the Internet. The user\u27s interaction with the web-based maps does not require any GIS expertise. A Webapplication was also implemented for managing the list of the constructed maps. The maps are deleted or updated through the manager application, a friendly interface application that does not require users to have any GIS technology knowledge

HazardReady – a geographically based natural hazard education and preparedness web application

Earthquakes, floods, wildfires, and other natural disasters are inevitable and costly both in terms of lives lost and money spent on recovery. Scientific research on natural hazards is widely shared within the scientific community, but is less often made more widely accessible, as methods or pathways for providing scientific natural hazard information and data in non-technical language are limited. Priorities for imparting hazard information include: 1) scientific accuracy, 2) spatial granularity, 3) integration of information about all relevant hazards, 4) nontechnical content, 5) appropriate preparedness activities, and 6) engagement with existing disaster response and mitigation capabilities. In response to these priorities, we developed HazardReady, an interactive online application that delivers location-based multihazard risk and preparedness information using graphics and natural language easily understood by nonexpert users. This paper explores the development of the prototype for Missoula County, Montana, U.S.A. called MissoulaReady. The web application is built on spatial data layers corresponding to levels of risk and historical distributions of natural hazards in Missoula County. A web user queries these data by searching on a spatial location, either an address or a map click, for which curated, location-specific, interpreted risk information is then served. We specifically address the steps required to implement all of the priorities identified, including how natural hazard data are collated, modified, and interpreted, as well as methods by which diverse stakeholders were involved in the application’s creation. Focus groups and usage metrics indicate that the application meets criteria of scientific accuracy and usability

A new web-based system to improve the monitoring of snow avalanche hazard in France

International audienceSnow avalanche data in the French Alps and Pyrenees have been recorded for more than 100 years in several databases. The increasing amount of observed data required a more integrative and automated service. Here we report the comprehensive web-based Snow Avalanche Information System newly developed to this end for three important data sets: an avalanche chronicle (Enquete Permanente sur les Avalanches, EPA), an avalanche map (Carte de Localisation des Phenomenes d'Avalanche, CLPA) and a compilation of hazard and vulnerability data recorded on selected paths endangering human settlements (Sites Habites Sensibles aux Avalanches, SSA). These data sets are now integrated into a common database, enabling full interoperability between all different types of snow avalanche records: digitized geographic data, avalanche descriptive parameters, eyewitness reports, photographs, hazard and risk levels, etc. The new information system is implemented through modular components using Java-based web technologies with Spring and Hibernate frameworks. It automates the manual data entry and improves the process of information collection and sharing, enhancing user experience and data quality, and offering new outlooks to explore and exploit the huge amount of snow avalanche data available for fundamental research and more applied risk assessment

Estuarine geomorphodynamic assessment of environmental change and stressor impacts: a geographic information systems and remote sensing (geoinformatic) modelling approach for sustainable management of southeast Australian coastal ecosystems

Increased habitation and global warming is posing growing threats to the coastal zone and estuarine settings through direct and indirect environmental and anthropogenic modification of sensitive coastal systems and their relevant catchments. It is essential to understand the impact of the different stressors on the coastal environment under current conditions and within the historical record in order to predict future responses of estuaries and coastal wetlands. Short-term remote sensing and GIS modelling and field assessment have made a significant contribution to our knowledge on estuarine and coastal wetland dynamism within the last few decades. This thesis assesses the potential impacts of anthropogenic modifications, climatic factors and sea level rise on estuarine eco-geomorphic intertidal sedimentary landforms and their associated coastal wetlands in southeastern Australia based on three estuarine systems on the south coast of NSW: the estuarine Comerong Island, Wandandian deltaic estuary, and Towamba estuary. The thesis’ short-term evaluation approach shows that the degradation levels on estuarine platforms are dependent on catchment development, sediment characteristics, ecosystem stability and sea level rise inundation. During anticipated climate change and rising sea level conditions, estuaries depend on their sediment source areas, especially on modifications to their river catchment. Catchments with high anthropogenic modification levels, like the dam infrastructure in the Shoalhaven River catchment, influence sediment availability and transportation with clear impacts on eco-geomorphic coastal platform losses. In contrast, mostly unmodified but high-sloped catchments, such as the Towamba example, may have other negative effects on the estuary since the sediments are poorly sorted and coarser noncohesive quartz-dominated particles cause the geomorphic landforms and associated ecosystems to be more vulnerable to erosion and lead to less stable vegetation. Regions with small moderately modified catchments, such as the Wandandian site, allow ideal geomorphic processes to occur. Here, sediment is weathered slowly and moved downstream naturally to a secure inner estuarine deltaic setting where fine sandy/silty particles accumulate and provide more geomorphic stability. Associated vegetation assemblages ensure the progradation and steady growth of the deltaic eco-geomorphic system. The thesis assessment shows the eco-geomorphic-dynamism of the Towamba estuary, which has a mostly unmodified catchment surface (only 14% anthropogenic modifications), has grown a total of 0.17 km2 since 1949. This growth rate indicates that the Towamba estuary future scenarios will mostly be filled at the completion of the 21st Century. In comparison, the partially modified (22.1%) catchment has prograded the Wandandian deltaic shorelines resulting in the total growth of 0.24 km2 during the study period (1949-2016). However, results on Comerong Island show significant changes in the spatial extent, elevation, and shorelines with total net losses of 0.3 km2 over the investigated timespan (1949-2014). Changes included northern accretion (0.4 km2), and western, middle and southern erosion (0.7 km2) of the island. The thesis emphasises the dynamic character of the estuarine eco-geomorphic system, particularly using Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) as a vegetation canopy assessment approach. This approach illustrates the significant correlations between vegetation and climatic and geomorphic influences at the study sites, indicating that these factors are the main drivers of vegetation canopy disturbance on intertidal sedimentary landforms during the 21st Century. Locally, map-algebra expression shows the spatial distribution of the NDVI identifies areas that need to be managed in relation to the causes and drivers. This modelling confirms the LiDAR-DEMs-driven character of the existing situations to their influencing factors, which also control the estimated future-scenarios and illustrate clear inundatable landform zones at the study sites by 2100. Results indicate that the rise of sea level will have tremendous effects on the coastal eco-geomorphic systems, particularly wetlands, throughout southeastern Australia and equivalent systems overseas by the end of this century. This thesis develops possible mitigation and adaptation strategies and sustainable solutions that might be utilized to minimize the indirect devastating consequences of climate change and anthropogenic modifications, particularly damming rivers, which cause direct sedimentation problems as implied by the Tallowa Dam case study. The thesis shows that intertidal sedimentary landforms will have a future negative or positive vegetarian response according to their evolving morphological character. Within a short-term timescale, the whole eco-geomorphic system will interact with many environmental and anthropogenic variables (particularly sedimentation rates) to evolve its own character over a longer timescale. Therefore, the long term assessment approach can be directed by having a better understanding of the existing situation and accurately identifying the past drivers. Future projections indicate that indirect anthropogenic-induced global warming will have a great effect on estuaries and coastal wetlands in the 21st Century. This research helps to provide an important framework for quantifying the current situation, future stressors and vulnerability responses during any intensification of natural and artificial coastal hazards, which may be of concern to the general public and environmental scientists who are currently focusing their attention on the best way to preserve estuaries and their wetland ecosystems at the current stage of global warming and human settlement

Annual Brome (Bromus tectorum) Wildfire Fuel Breaks: Web-Enabled GIS Wildfire Model Decision Support System

Annual brome (Bromus tectorum), also known as Cheatgrass, is a non-native invasive plant that has degraded rangeland, and wildlife habitat, and has increased the frequency and severity of wildfires in the Western United States. An ArcGIS Server web-enabled GIS decision support system has been developed to empower landowners and land managers to identify critical areas for placing wildfire suppression annual brome fuel break on their land in order to protect their lives and property. The model identifies the critical predictive annual brome habitat and wildfire threat parameters, and uses web services to input the relevant GIS data that represent the model parameters. The GIS analysis is geoprocessed remotely and the potential fire break locations are distributed as a map web service accessible by a web browser with a graphical user interface, on a thinclient computer, along with technical information about the installation of wildfire fuel breaks

Comparing Spatial Interpolation Techniques of Local Urban Temperature for Heat-related Health Risk Estimation in a Subtropical City

INTRODUCTION: The threat of elevated temperatures and more intense and prolonged heat waves coupled with urban heat islands presents a significant risk to human health. City planners and policymakers need tools that predict how overheating risk varies within a city under different climate change and mitigation scenarios. A key driver of determining overheating risk is exposure to local urban temperatures and the extent to which such exposure may be modified by built environments where the majority of people spend their time. Due to the dispersion of monitoring stations, techniques are needed to extrapolate from single point measurements and their modifying determinants. This research aims to compare nine GIS spatial interpolation techniques of estimating street-level temperature in a subtropical city. METHODS: Taipei city, Taiwan, is located in a subtropical zone with one of the highest population densities in the world. Taipei experienced warmer winters and hotter summers in recent 10 years with average temperature from 16.4 to 30.1 °C, and expected to rise from 0.8(RCP2.6) to 3.2(RCP8.5)°C in 2081-2100. In this study, data from the Taiwan Central Weather Bureau weather stations and the Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration air monitoring sites were used. Nine interpolation techniques were applied. These were validated by using records from two sources to cross-validate by comparing Standardised mean error and Standardised Root-Mean-Square error. RESULTS: Kriging techniques have better prediction performance than four non-geostatistical interpolation techniques. The performance of OCK techniques indicated the built environment, such as the nearby village park area or home density, can be important modifiers of external temperature in cities. DISCUSSION: Local urban climates are complex systems; selecting a robust interpolation technique that accounts for underlying drivers is essential for policymakers. This research provides the basis to further estimate overheating risk by estimating local outdoor street-level temperature and the modifying effects of the built environment

The use of GIS for the development of a fully embedded predictive fire model

Fire is very important for maintaining balance in the ecosystems and is used by fire management across the world to regulate growth of vegetation in natural conservation areas. However, improper management of fire may lead to hazardous behaviour. Fire modelling tools are implemented to provide fire managers with a platform to test and plan fire management activities. Fire modelling occurs in two parts: fire behaviour models and fire spread models, where fire behaviour models account for the behaviour of fires that is used in fire spread models to model the propagation of a fire event. Since fire is a worldwide phenomenon a number of fire modelling approaches have been developed across the world. Most existing fire models only model either fire behaviour or fire spread, but not both, hence full integration of fire models into GIS is not completely implemented. Full integration of environmental modelling in GIS refers to the case where an environmental model such as a fire model is implemented within a GIS environment, without requiring any transfer of data from other external environments. Most existing GIS based fire spread models account for fire propagation in the direction of prevailing winds (or defined fire channels) as opposed to full fire spread in all directions. The purpose of this study is to illustrate the role of GIS in fire management through the development of a fully integrated, predictive, wind driven, surface fire model. The fire model developed in this study models both the risk of fire occurring (fire behaviour model), and the propagation of a fire in case of an ignition incident (fire spread model), hence full integration of fire modelling in a GIS environment. The fire behaviour model is based on prevailing meteorological conditions, the type of vegetation in an area, and the topography. The spread of a fire in this model is determined by the transfer of heat energy and rate of spread of fire, and is developed based on the Cellular Automata (CA) modelling approach. This model considers the spread of fire in all directions instead of the forward wind direction only as is the case in most fire spread models. The fire behaviour model calculates fire intensity and rate of spread which are used in the fire spread model, hence demonstrating the full integration of fire modelling in GIS. No external data exchange with the model occurs except for acquisition of input data such as measured values of environmental conditions. v This cellular automata based fire spread model is developed in the ArcGIS ModelBuilder geoprocessing environment, and requires the development of a custom geoprocessing function tool to facilitate the fast and effective performance of the model. The test study area used in this research is the Kruger National Park because of frequent fire activity that occurs in the park, as a result of management activities and accidental fires, and also because these fires are recorded by park fire ecologists. Validation of the model is achieved by comparison of simulated fire areas after a certain period of time with known location of the fire at that particular time. This is achieved by the mapping of fire scars and active fire areas acquired from MODIS Terra and Aqua images, fire scars are also acquired from the Kruger National Park Scientific Services. Upon evaluation, the results of the fire model show successful simulation of fire area with respect to time. The implementation of the model within the ArcGIS environment is also performed successfully. The study thus concludes that GIS can be successfully used for the development of a fully integrated (embedded) fire model