Quantitative Assessment of the Relationship between Land Use/Land Cover Changes and Wildfires in Southern Europe

Wildfires are key drivers of land use/land cover (LULC) dynamics by burning vegetation and affecting human infrastructure. On the contrary, LULC changes (LULCCs) may affect the fire regime by influencing vegetation type, burnable areas, fuel loads and continuity. This study investigates the relationship between LULCC and wildfires. We developed a methodology based on different indicators, which allowed us to quantitatively assess and better understand the transitions between LULC classes and burnt area (BA) in Europe in the last two decades (2000–2019). The assessment was performed for the entire European continent and, independently, for each of the five European countries most affected by wildfires: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece. The main results are the following: (i) LULCC analysis revealed a net loss in forests and arable land and a net gain in shrubs; (ii) most of the BA occurred in forests (42% for the whole of Europe), especially in coniferous forests; (iii) transitions from BA generally were to transitional woodland/shrub or, again, to BA. Overall, our results confirm the existence of a strong relationship between wildfires and LULCCs in Europe, which was quantified in the present study. These findings are of paramount importance in fire and environmental system management and ecology.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

INNOSETA regional workshops: analysis of the needs for better dissemination of spraying innovations in vineyards and orchards

In the framework of the H2020 INNOSETA thematic network focused on agricultural spraying, 17 workshops were organised across Europe on issues related to the appropriation of spraying innovations by farmers. The objective of these workshops, which gathered a total of 850 people, was to foster exchanges between the various stakeholders (sprayer manufacturers, PPP companies, authorities, advisors, farmers’ representatives, researchers, etc.) in a multi-actor approach; to address issues related to the dissemination of innovation; and to identify ways to improve farmers’ uptake. Each workshop was organised as a technical day combining demonstrations of innovations with interactive discussions. The outcomes of the discussions highlighted in all countries are that there is still a lot to be donePostprint (published version

The potential of satellite data to study individual wildfire events

Geophysical Research Abstract of EGU General Assembly 2014, held 27 April - 2 May, 2014 in Vienna, Austria

Lightning-ignited wildfires and long-continuing-current lightning in the Mediterranean Basin: Preferential meteorological conditions

Lightning is the major cause of natural ignition of wildfires worldwide and produces the largest wildfires in some regions. Lightning strokes produce about 5% of forest fires in the Mediterranean basin and are one of the most important precursors of the largest forest fires during the summer. Lightning-ignited wildfires produce significant emissions of aerosols, black carbon and trace gases, such as CO, SO2, CH4 and O3, affecting air quality. Characterization of the meteorological and 5 cloud conditions of lightning-ignited wildfires in the Mediterranean basin can serve to improve fire forecasting models and to upgrade the implementation of fire emissions in atmospheric models

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

Landscape - wildfire interactions in southern Europe: implications for landscape management

ReviewEvery year approximately half a million hectares of land are burned by wildfires in southern Europe, causing large ecological and socio-economic impacts. Climate and land use changes in the last decades have increased fire risk and danger. In this paper we review the available scientific knowledge on the relationships between landscape and wildfires in the Mediterranean region, with a focus on its application for defining landscape management guidelines and policies that could be adopted in order to promote landscapes with lower fire hazard. The main findings are that (1) socio-economic drivers have favoured land cover changes contributing to increasing fire hazard in the last decades, (2) large wildfires are becoming more frequent, (3) increased fire frequency is promoting homogeneous landscapes covered by fire-prone shrublands; (4) landscape planning to reduce fuel loads may be successful only if fire weather conditions are not extreme. The challenges to address these problems and the policy and landscape management responses that should be adopted are discussed, along with major knowledge gapsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Spectral and Spatial-Based Classification for Broad-Scale Land Cover Mapping Based on Logistic Regression

sensor

Object-based classification of a high spatial resolution satellite image (IKONOS) using spatial autocorrelation and semivariogram metrics in a rural NATURA 2000 deltaic area

International audienceKalamas Delta belongs to Natura 2000 network. Most part of delta consists of agricultural land. Remote sensing and GIS are important tools to map and identify agricultural crops among others. The aim of our study is to map permanent agricultural crops in the plateau of Kalamas Delta using IKONOS satellite data by considering the spatial arrangement of the radiometric values of the pixels. The spatial pattern was estimated using the Moran's I spatial autocorrelation index and semivariance, which is the one-half the average squared difference between data values separated by the lag distance. The satellite data used in the analysis were geometrically corrected and enhanced by applying various multivariate data analysis methods. Additionally we studied the effect of the size and shape of the sampling area used to estimate the autocorrelation statistic as well as the orientation of the parcels when trying to detect and characterize the spatial patterns of the crops. The classification of satellite data was implemented using object-based classification techniques. The segmentation algorithm applied (segments) was based originally on the spectral and spatial characteristics of the IKONOS image. Afterwards, the classification of the segments was based, not only on their spectral and spatial characteristics, but also on the spatial arrangement of the radiometric values of the pixels of the image expressed by the autocorrelation and semivariance metrics. The various agricultural parcels, except the unique spectral characteristics, are also characterized by their spatial characteristics determined from the spatial patterns of the crops. This information when considered in the classification process together with their spectral and other spatial characteristics increased the final accuracy of the classification results from 60 to 73%. Concluding, it seems that permanent agricultural crops are distinct areas in high spatial resolution satellite images with particular spatial characteristics that are determined by the type of crop in relation to the spatial resolution of the satellite image