A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Mapping regional patterns of large forest fires in the Wildland-Urban Interface areas in Europe
Over recent decades, Land Use and Cover Change (LUCC) trends in many regions of Europe have reconfigured the landscape structures around many urban areas. In these areas, the proximity to landscape elements with high forest fuels has increased the fire risk to people and property. These Wildland Urban Interface areas (WUI) can be defined as landscapes where anthropogenic urban land use and forest fuel mass come into contact. Mapping their extent is needed to prioritize fire risk control and inform local forest fire risk management strategies. This study proposes a method to map the extent and spatial patterns of the European WUI areas at continental scale. Using the European map of WUI areas, the hypothesis is tested that the distance from the nearest WUI area is related to the forest fire probability. Statistical relationships between the distance from the nearest WUI area, latitude and distance from the coast and large forest fire incidents from satellite remote sensing were subsequently modelled by logistic regression analysis. The study has mapped the extent and locations of the European WUI areas for the first time. Country-specific positive and negative relationships of the proximity to the nearest WUI area are found. A regional-scale analysis shows a strong influence of the WUI zones on large fires in parts of the Mediterranean regions. Results indicate that, considering WUI distance, the probability of large burned surfaces are identified in touristic regions like Sardinia, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, or in regions with a strong peri-urban component as Catalunya, Comunidad de Madrid, Comunidad Valenciana. For the above regions, probability curves of large burned surfaces matches statistic relation inside the first 5000 m from the WUI distance. While at the larger scale, latitude and proximity to the coast have a stronger influence on large fire incidents, at the regional scale the WUI distance is strongly related to the occurrence probability of large forest fires. Wise land management can provide a valuable ecosystem service of fire risk reduction that is currently not explicitly included in ecosystem service valuations. The results re-emphasise the importance of including this ecosystem service in landscape valuations to account for the significant landscape function of reducing the risk of catastrophic large fires. ; JRC.H.5-Land Resources Management
Mapping regional patterns of large forest fires in the Wildland-Urban Interface areas in Europe
Over recent decades, Land Use and Cover Change (LUCC) trends in many regions of Europe have reconfigured the landscape structures around many urban areas. In these areas, the proximity to landscape elements with high forest fuels has increased the fire risk to people and property. These Wildland Urban Interface areas (WUI) can be defined as landscapes where anthropogenic urban land use and forest fuel mass come into contact. Mapping their extent is needed to prioritize fire risk control and inform local forest fire risk management strategies. This study proposes a method to map the extent and spatial patterns of the European WUI areas at continental scale. Using the European map of WUI areas, the hypothesis is tested that the distance from the nearest WUI area is related to the forest fire probability. Statistical relationships between the distance from the nearest WUI area, latitude and distance from the coast and large forest fire incidents from satellite remote sensing were subsequently modelled by logistic regression analysis. The study has mapped the extent and locations of the European WUI areas for the first time. Country-specific positive and negative relationships of the proximity to the nearest WUI area are found. A regional-scale analysis shows a strong influence of the WUI zones on large fires in parts of the Mediterranean regions. Results indicate that, considering WUI distance, the probability of large burned surfaces are identified in touristic regions like Sardinia, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, or in regions with a strong peri-urban component as Catalunya, Comunidad de Madrid, Comunidad Valenciana. For the above regions, probability curves of large burned surfaces matches statistic relation inside the first 5000 m from the WUI distance. While at the larger scale, latitude and proximity to the coast have a stronger influence on large fire incidents, at the regional scale the WUI distance is strongly related to the occurrence probability of large forest fires. Wise land management can provide a valuable ecosystem service of fire risk reduction that is currently not explicitly included in ecosystem service valuations. The results re-emphasise the importance of including this ecosystem service in landscape valuations to account for the significant landscape function of reducing the risk of catastrophic large fires. ; JRC.H.5-Land Resources Management
Mapping regional patterns of large forest fires in the Wildland-Urban Interface areas in Europe
MODUGNO Sirio (author) / BALZTER Heiko (author) / COLE Beth (author) / BORRELLI PASQUALE (author)
2015-04-17
Miscellaneous
Electronic Resource
English
DDC:
710
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