Journal of Siberian Federal University. Biology: Actual Fire Danger Classification of the Siberian Territories Using Satellite Data

Journal of Siberian Federal University. Biology / Actual Fire Danger Classification of the Siberian Territories Using Satellite Data

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Issue: Journal of Siberian Federal University. Biology. 2010 3 (1)
Authors: Rubtsov, Alexey V.; Sukhinin, Anatoliy I.; Vaganov, Evgeny A.
Contact information: Rubtsov, Alexey V. : Siberian Federal University, Institute of Space and Information Technologies V.N. Sukhachev Institute of forest, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Science , 79. Svobodny, Krasnoyarsk, 660041 Russia 50/28 Akademgorodok, Krasnoyarsk, 660036 Russia , e-mail: ; Sukhinin, Anatoliy I. : Siberian Federal University, Institute of Space and Information Technologies V.N. Sukhachev Institute of forest, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Science , 79. Svobodny, Krasnoyarsk, 660041 Russia 50/28 Akademgorodok, Krasnoyarsk, 660036 Russia; Vaganov, Evgeny A. : Siberian Federal University, Institute of Space and Information Technologies , 79. Svobodny, Krasnoyarsk, 660041 Russia
Keywords: NOAA AVHRR; NOAA/AVHRR; fires; area burned; classification; fire danger; seasonality
Abstract: Spatial distribution of hot spot fires in Siberia derived by processing of NOAA-AVHRR satellite images for the period from 1996 to 2008 was analyzed. Total fire counts and total areas burned were downscaled up to 0.3° within different intra-annual periods (from March to October) for each single year and for the entire period of available observations. Seasonal patterns of fire occurrence were recognized. High values of total fire counts are not proportional to the distribution of total areas burned. Hence the studied area was classified in terms of an actual fire danger (AFD) with the following factors: longitude, latitude and altitude of each map cell, total burned area (Ha) and quantity of single fires (fire counts). Two methods of the cluster analysis dividing the objects (0.3° cells) into AFD classes were applied. Final classification contains 5 classes describing the study area from low to extremely high AFD. The most significant factor in the analysis is the total area burned, it means that catastrophic fires with low fire return intervals and high areas burned play similar role compared to small and medium size fires with high occurrence frequency. The result was also compared to an AFD map empirically derived from fire occurrence survey information (statistical) for the period from 1965 to 1978 (Sofronov, 1996). There is a particular redistribution of high AFD classes which moved southward from Eastern Siberia comparing to the state of past years. It can be caused by an influence of climate variations on time scale of decades.
Pages: 30-39
Paper at repository of SibFU: https://elib.sfu-kras.ru/handle/2311/1793

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