A Comparison of Spectral Angle Mapper and Artificial Neural Network Classifiers Combined with Landsat TM Imagery Analysis for Obtaining Burnt Area Mapping

Satellite remote sensing, with its unique synoptic coverage capabilities, can provide accurate and immediately valuable information on fire analysis and post-fire assessment, including estimation of burnt areas. In this study the potential for burnt area mapping of the combined use of Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) classifiers with Landsat TM satellite imagery was evaluated in a Mediterranean setting. As a case study one of the most catastrophic forest fires, which occurred near the capital of Greece during the summer of 2007, was used. The accuracy of the two algorithms in delineating the burnt area from the Landsat TM imagery, acquired shortly after the fire suppression, was determined by the classification accuracy results of the produced thematic maps. In addition, the derived burnt area estimates from the two classifiers were compared with independent estimates available for the study region, obtained from the analysis of higher spatial resolution satellite data. In terms of the overall classification accuracy, ANN outperformed (overall accuracy 90.29%, Kappa coefficient 0.878) the SAM classifier (overall accuracy 83.82%, Kappa coefficient 0.795). Total burnt area estimates from the two classifiers were found also to be in close agreement with the other available estimates for the study region, with a mean absolute percentage difference of ∼1% for ANN and ∼6.5% for SAM. The study demonstrates the potential of the examined here algorithms in detecting burnt areas in a typical Mediterranean setting

Carbon sequestration and soil nitrogen enrichment in Robinia pseudoacacia L. post-mining restoration plantations

Robinia pseudoacacia L. (black locust) has been extensively used for restoring degraded lands, following anthropogenic interventions like coal mining. Here we have addressed the contribution of black locust restoration plantations, established on overburden post-mining material, to carbon storage and to soil nitrogen enrichment at the largest lignite center in Greece. Carbon stocks and fluxes in all pools of the ecosystem, as well as the foliar nitrogen resorption efficiency and soil N stocks were quantified and the effect of plantations’ age was tested. The young age of the plantations (4–24 years) resulted in a relatively low total ecosystem C stock (56.7 t ha−1), which was partitioned among the different pools in the following order: above-ground biomass (50%) > black locust-derived SOC (24%) > coarse roots (14%) > deadwood (6%) > forest floor (5%) > fine roots (less than 1%). Litterfall started early in the growing season and together with fine roots that had a turnover rate of 0.62 yr−1, fueled soil organic carbon. SOC accrual, referring to the accumulation of SOC derived by black locust, declined with age. However, further SOC accumulation is expected, based on the potential SOC storage capacity of soil at the area. C stocks in above- and below-ground biomass increased linearly with age. The same response was observed for soil N stock and NRE, indicating that despite the N2-fixing capacity of black locust, there was still a poor pedospheric N supply and a need for efficient N cycling. Overall, the studied restoration plantations have a considerable contribution to C and N accumulation at the degraded post-mining sites. These positive effects are expected to further increase at least until the plantations reach maturity

Recent Forest Fire Related Accidents in Europe

Forest fires can cause injuries and death to fire fighters and to population affected by them. The analysis of these accidents can provide a better insight about their causes and circumstances and develop guidelines to improve safety of all those at the fire line. These events are also a challenge for researchers as we try to better understand how fire and people behave and with this knowledge contribute to avoid these accidents. Some recent cases involving fatal accidents in five different countries are described and analyzed in this book. Common elements among them are the fact that both several fatalities and fire eruptions occurred in all of them. The number of victims ranges from two in Palasca (France) accident to 27 in Arthemida (Greece) case and they include professional and well experienced fire fighters and members of the population, in some cases even children. May these cases be a reminder that every person can be endangered by forest fires and a call to enforce the common goal of preventing them.JRC.H.7-Land management and natural hazard

Forest fire causes and motivations in the Southern and South-Eastern Europe through experts' perception and applications to current policies

Forest fires causes and motivations are poorly understood in southern and south-eastern Europe. This research aims to identify how experts perceive the different causes of forest fires as defined in the classification proposed by the European Commission in 2013. A panel of experts (N = 271) was gathered from the EU Southern Member States (France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) and from Central (Switzerland) and south-eastern Europe (Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of North Macedonia, and Turkey). Experts were asked to answer a questionnaire to score the importance of the 29 fire causes using a five point (1-5) Likert Scale. Agricultural burnings received the highest score, followed by Deliberate fire for profit, and Vegetation management. Most of the events stem from Negligence, whereas malicious fire setting is arguably overestimated although there are differences among the countries. This research demonstrates the importance of different techniques to enhance the knowledge of the causes of the complex anthropogenic phenomenon of forest fire occurrenc

Wildfire management in Mediterranean-type regions: paradigm change needed

PerspectiveDuring the last decades, climate and land use changes led to an increased prevalence ofmegafires in Mediterranean-type climate regions (MCRs).Here, we argue that current wildfire management policies in MCRs are destined to fail.Focused on fire suppression, these policies largely ignore ongoing climate warming and landscape-scale buildup of fuels.The result is a ‘firefighting trap’ that contributes to ongoing fuel accumulation precluding suppression under extreme fire weather, and resulting in more severe and larger fires.We believe that a ‘business as usual’ approach to wildfire in MCRs will not solve the fire problem, and recommend that policy and expenditures be rebalanced between suppression and mitigation of the negative impacts of fire.This requires a paradigm shift: policy effectiveness should not be primarily measured as a function of area burned (as it usually is), but rather as a function of avoided socio-ecological damage and lossinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio