scholarly journals Survey of Transverse Range Fire Scars in Ten Years of UAVSAR Polarimetry

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Parker ◽  
Andrea Donnellan ◽  
Margaret Glasscoe
Keyword(s):  
Fire Scars

The Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Lightning Strikes and Their Relationship with Vegetation Type, Elevation, and Fire Scars in the Northern Territory

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 1161-1173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Musa Kilinc ◽  
Jason Beringer
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Vegetation Type ◽  
Northern Region ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Southern Region ◽  
Transitional Period ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Coastal Regions ◽  
Fire Scars ◽  
Lightning Strikes

Abstract In this paper the authors explore the spatial and temporal patterns of lightning strikes in northern Australia for the first time. In particular, the possible relationships between lightning strikes and elevation, vegetation type, and fire scars (burned areas) are examined. Lightning data provided by the Bureau of Meteorology were analyzed for a 6-yr period (1998–2003) over the northern, southern, and coastal regions of the Northern Territory (NT) through the use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) to determine the spatial and temporal characteristics of lightning strikes. It was determined that the highest densities of lightning strikes occurred during the monsoon transitional period (dry to wet) and during the active monsoon periods, when atmospheric moisture is highest. For the period of this study, lightning was far more prevalent over the northern region (1.21 strikes per km2 yr−1) than over the southern (0.58 strikes per km2 yr−1) and coastal regions (0.71 strikes per km2 yr−1). Differences in vegetation cover were suggested to influence the lightning distribution over the northern region of the NT, but no relationship was found in the southern region. Lightning strikes in the southern region showed a positive relationship with elevations above 800 m, but no relationship was found in the northern region, which could be due to the low-lying topography of the area. A comparison of lightning densities between burned and unburned areas showed high variability; however, the authors suggest that, under ideal atmospheric conditions, large-scale fire scars (>500 m) could produce lightning strikes triggered by either enhanced free convection or mesoscale circulations.

Forest fires in the Muddus National Park (northern Sweden) during the past 600 years

1984 ◽  
Vol 62 (5) ◽  
pp. 893-898 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ola Engelmark
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
National Park ◽  
Pine Forests ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Northern Sweden ◽  
Fire Scars ◽  
Dead Trees ◽  
Humus Layer ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Park Area

The occurrence of forest fires in the Muddus National Park (area, 50 000 ha), just north of the Arctic Circle in northern Sweden, was investigated on 75 separate sample plots. Between 1413 and the present, evidence of 47 fire years was obtained by dating the fire scars on living Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris), the oldest of which had germinated in 1274. The fire traces found on the sample plots were fire scars on living or dead trees or charcoal fragments in the humus layer. Plots lacking all traces of former forest fires were mainly those situated on sites surrounded by extensive mires. Forest fires were shown to have occurred in the five different types of forest investigated. The commonest frequencies of fires in the pine forests occurred with the interval 81–90 years, while the mean frequency was 110 years. The mean interval of time elapsed since the last forest fire occurred in the pine forests was 144 years. Some of the major fire years in the Muddus area coincide with forest fires in other parts of northern Sweden, in the taiga of western Russia, and in central Siberia.

The Relationship Between Basal Fire Scars and Crown Damage in Giant Sequoia

Ecology ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 210-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip W. Rundel
Keyword(s):  
Fire Scars ◽  
Giant Sequoia ◽  
The Relationship

Fire disturbance of larch woodlands in string fens in northern Québec

2005 ◽  
Vol 83 (6) ◽  
pp. 599-609 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Busque ◽  
Dominique Arseneault
Keyword(s):  
Boreal Forest ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Wood Decay ◽  
Complete Removal ◽  
Tree Density ◽  
Fire Disturbance ◽  
Tree Cover ◽  
Larix Laricina ◽  
Fire Scars ◽  
Large Fires

In this study, dendrochronology was used to reconstruct the fire history and associated dynamics of the last 350 years in three larch (Larix laricina [Du Roi] K. Koch) woodlands in string fens of the northern boreal forest of Quebec. Fire scars were also sampled to reconstruct the fire history across the surrounding uplands. Our results show that string fens are more likely to experience partial disturbance than complete removal of the tree cover during fire. Although large fires burned across the studied landscape in 1733, 1787, 1865, and 1941, no stand-replacing fire has occurred in any of the studied woodlands. At all sites, the oldest larch trees became established around 1640–1680, and several individuals survived each fire identified across the uplands. However, partial disturbance during the most recent 1941 fire, which was associated with severe fire weather, decreased tree density and released the growth of several trees. Although signs of previous fire may have been lost through wood decay, no fire impacted larch growth as severely as the 1941 fire, further emphasizing the modest influence of fire in string fens as compared with uplands. The low fire influence in these minerotrophic peatlands helps explain the high occurrence of the fire-sensitive eastern larch.Key words: boreal forest, fire disturbance, larch woodland, Larix laricina, northern Quebec, string fen.

Fire histories in ponderosa pine forests of Grand Canyon are well supported: reply to Baker

2006 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Z. Fulé ◽  
Thomas A. Heinlein ◽  
W. Wallace Covington
Keyword(s):  
Ponderosa Pine ◽  
Grand Canyon ◽  
Pine Forests ◽  
Fire Scars ◽  
Surface Fire ◽  
Ponderosa Pine Forests ◽  
Fire Scar ◽  
Study Sites ◽  
Fire Intervals ◽  
Old Trees

Fire scars and other paleoecological methods are imperfect proxies for detecting past patterns of fire events. However, calculations of long fire rotations in Grand Canyon ponderosa pine forests by Baker are not convincing in methodology or assumptions compared with fire-scar evidence of frequent surface fires. Patches of severe disturbance are a possible hypothesis to explain the relatively short age structure at the park, where ~12% fewer trees were older than 300 years compared with another unharvested northern Arizona site. However, mapped patterns of old trees as well as the evidence for frequent surface fire from fire scars, charcoal deposition studies, and evolutionary history are more consistent with the dominance of surface fire prior to c. 1880. The most relevant available evidence of fire recurrence at a given point, mean point fire intervals, had median values <16 years at all five study sites, close to filtered composite fire interval statistics (~6–10 years), but much lower than Baker’s calculated fire rotation values (55–110 years). The composite fire interval is not a uniquely important statistic or a numerical guideline for management, but one of many lines of evidence underscoring the ecological role of frequent surface fire in ponderosa pine forests.

scholarly journals Fire-scarred fossil tree from the Late Triassic shows a pre-fire drought signal

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce A. Byers ◽  
Lucía DeSoto ◽  
Dan Chaney ◽  
Sidney R. Ash ◽  
Anya B. Byers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Wood Anatomy ◽  
Recovery Period ◽  
Late Triassic ◽  
Fire Scars ◽  
Ecological Processes ◽  
Fire Scar ◽  
Evolutionary Force ◽  
Ancient Forests

AbstractExploring features of wood anatomy associated with fire scars found on fossil tree trunks is likely to increase our knowledge of the environmental and ecological processes that occurred in ancient forests and of the role of fire as an evolutionary force. In Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, where Late Triassic fossil trees are exposed, we found 13 examples of fossil logs with external features resembling modern fire scars. One specimen with the unambiguous external features of a fire scar was collected for analysis of its fossilized wood. A light-colored band composed of compressed and distorted tracheids was associated with the scarring event. Cell lumen diameter and cell wall thickness in the pre-scarring fossilized wood show a response similar to that described in modern trees experiencing drought conditions. Tracheids in the post-scarring wood are initially smaller, and then become larger than average following a recovery period, as is often observed in modern conifers following fire. The responses in external morphology and wood anatomy to drought and fire were similar to those of some modern trees and support the view that some forests may have experienced conditions favoring the evolution of fire-adapted traits for more than 200 million years.

scholarly journals Fire history and climate-growth response of Abies spectabilis : A case from Langtang National Park, Nepal Himalaya

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-12
Author(s):  
S. Basnet ◽  
N. P. Gaire ◽  
P. K. Chhetri
Keyword(s):  
Tree Ring ◽  
Radial Growth ◽  
National Park ◽  
Fire History ◽  
Ring Width ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
Himalayan Region ◽  
Fire Scars ◽  
Fire Event ◽  
Abies Spectabilis

This study presents the potential of a conifer species (Abies spectabilis D. Don) to reconstruct fire history by using dendro chronological technique along with thedendroclimatic response in Langtang National Park, Central Himalaya of Nepal. For the fire history reconstruction, altogether eight cross-sections samples from fire affected eight trees and another 20 tree-cores from 10 trees with visible fire scars were taken. In the case of dendroclimatic study, 24 healthy cores of A. spectabilis were selected from the 40 cores extracted from 19 trees. The standard dendro chronological methodology was used for sample preparation and analysis. A 199-year long ring-width chronology of A. spectabilis spanning from 1818 to 2016 AD was developed. In spite of visible fire burn in near bark-surface, no potential fire scars are seen in inner parts in the cross-section samples. However, 12 cores showed that three fire burns occurred simultaneously in the forest area in the years 1917−1918, 1969−1970 and 2009−2010, respectively. Tree-ring-based fire event-record is found to be concurrent to the local people's perceptions/experience about the past fire history in the area. Tree growth climate relationship showed sensitive responses to both growing and non-growing season’s temperature and precipitation variability. Summer temperature had positive influence on growth of the species. Precipitation of monsoon and autumn were found to have negative influence on radial growth whereas pre-monsoon precipitation had positive association with tree radial-growth. This preliminary assessment shows that there is a huge potential of tree-ring research for long-term fire history in the region and helps us to better understand the role of fire in the ecology and management in the Himalayan region. The study can also be replicated in other fire-affected areas of the Himalayan region by using fire sensitive species in the sampling.

Forest-fire-scar aging using SPOT-VEGETATION for Canadian ecoregions

2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 1116-1125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian D Amiro ◽  
Jing M Chen
Keyword(s):  
Near Infrared ◽  
Forest Succession ◽  
Short Wave ◽  
Federal Agencies ◽  
Infrared Band ◽  
Fire Scars ◽  
Fire Scar ◽  
Remote Sensing Techniques ◽  
Large Effort ◽  
Nominal Resolution

The mapping of Canadian fires is a large effort supported by provincial, territorial, and federal agencies. Remote sensing techniques can aid in mapping, especially in remote areas and during busy fire seasons. The SPOT-VEGETATION (SPOT-VGT) sensor has previously shown promise at distinguishing fire scars on the landscape. The usefulness of SPOT-VGT to age fires in 18 Canadian ecoregions was evaluated for a period up to 50 years since fire, analysing more than 250 000 pixels (nominal resolution about 1 km2). The SPOT-VGT reflectances were evaluated using the ratio of the short-wave infrared band (1.58–1.75 µm) to near-infrared band (0.78–0.89 µm), compared with the Canadian large-fire database (fires greater than 200 ha in size). Nonlinear regressions were significant for all ecoregions with r2 values being greater than 0.57 for 16 of them. Five ecoregions groupings had similar relationships, consistent with their contiguous pattern on the landscape. The prediction of fire-scar age depends on ecoregion and can be successful over periods as short as 6 years to as long as 30 years. The root mean square error for all ecoregions ranged from 5 years for recent burns to about 12 years for three decades following fire. This tool is useful to get approximate fire-scar ages, but the accuracy is limited because of the variation in forest succession on the landscape, and it cannot replace more detailed mapping done currently by fire agencies.

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