scholarly journals Estimation of Total Yearly CO2Emissions by Wildfires in Mexico during the Period 1999–2010

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flor Bautista Vicente ◽  
Noel Carbajal ◽  
Luis Felipe Pineda Martínez

The phenomenon of wildfires became a global environmental problem which demands estimations of their CO2emissions. Wildfires have deteriorated the air quality increasingly. Using available information on documented wildfires and a data set of satellite detected hot spots, total yearly emissions of CO2in Mexico were estimated for the period 1999–2010. A map of the main vegetation groups was used to calculate total areas for every vegetation type. The yearly number of hot spots per vegetation type was calculated. Estimates of emitted CO2in a wildfire were then accomplished by considering parameters such as: forest fuel load, vegetation type, burning efficiency, and mean burned area. The number of wildfires and total affected areas showed an annual variability. The yearly mean of affected area by a single wildfire varied between 0.2 and 0.3 km2. The total affected area during the period 1999 to 2010 was 86800 km2which corresponds to 4.3% of the Mexican territory. Total CO2emissions were approximately 112 Tg. The most affected vegetation types were forest and rainforest.

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 540 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. G. O'Connor ◽  
C. M. Mulqueeny ◽  
P. S. Goodman

Fire pattern is predicted to vary across an African savanna in accordance with spatial variation in rainfall through its effects on fuel production, vegetation type (on account of differences in fuel load and in flammability), and distribution of herbivores (because of their effects on fuel load). These predictions were examined for the 23 651-ha Mkuzi Game Reserve, KwaZulu-Natal, based on a 37-year data set. Fire return period varied from no occurrence to a fire every 1.76 years. Approximately 75% of the reserve experienced a fire approximately every 5 years, 25% every 4.1–2.2 years and less than 1% every 2 years on average. Fire return period decreased in relation to an increase in mean annual rainfall. For terrestrial vegetation types, median fire return periods decreased with increasing herbaceous biomass, from forest that did not burn to grasslands that burnt every 2.64 years. Fire was absent from some permanent wetlands but seasonal wetlands burnt every 5.29 years. Grazer biomass above 0.5 animal units ha–1 had a limiting influence on the maximum fire frequency of fire-prone vegetation types. The primary determinant of long-term spatial fire patterns is thus fuel load as determined by mean rainfall, vegetation type, and the effects of grazing herbivores.


Bothalia ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nokuphila L.S. Buthelezi ◽  
Onisimo Mutanga ◽  
Mathieu Rouget ◽  
Mbulisi Sibanda

Background: The role of fire in maintaining grassland diversity has been widely recognised; however, its effect in KwaZulu-Natal grasslands is still rudimentary. In that regard, understanding fire regimes of different vegetation types in KwaZulu-Natal is a critical step towards the development of effective management strategies that are specific to each vegetation type. Objective: To assess the effect of different vegetation types on fire regimes in KwaZulu-Natal using moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) burnt fire products. Method: Ten years of fire data for four different vegetation types (Ngongoni Veld, KwaZuluNatal Sandstone Sourveld, Eastern Valley Bushveld and KwaZulu-Natal Coastal Belt) were extracted from the MODIS products and used as a basis to establish three parameters: annual burnt areas, fire season and fire frequency. The total burnt area within each vegetation type over the 10-year period was quantified. Results: The KZN Sandstone Sourveld had a high-burnt area of 80% in 2009 with KwaZuluNatal Coastal Belt having the least burnt area of less than 5%. Ngongoni Veld and the KwaZuluNatal Sandstone Sourveld had the highest fire frequency, while the coastal region had low fire frequencies. Results showed high fire prevalence during the late period of the dry season (which extends from June to August) across all the vegetation types. Conclusion: This study underscores the potential of remotely sensed data (MODIS burned area products) in providing a comprehensive view of fire patterns in different vegetation types


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (16) ◽  
pp. 1873 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Hua ◽  
Huidong Wang ◽  
Haigang Sui ◽  
Brian Wardlow ◽  
Michael J. Hayes ◽  
...  

Drought, as an extreme climate event, affects the ecological environment for vegetation and agricultural production. Studies of the vegetative response to drought are paramount to providing scientific information for drought risk mitigation. In this paper, the spatial-temporal pattern of drought and the response lag of vegetation in Nebraska were analyzed from 2000 to 2015. Based on the long-term Daymet data set, the standard precipitation index (SPI) was computed to identify precipitation anomalies, and the Gaussian function was applied to obtain temperature anomalies. Vegetation anomaly was identified by dynamic time warping technique using a remote sensing Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time series. Finally, multilayer correlation analysis was applied to obtain the response lag of different vegetation types. The results show that Nebraska suffered severe drought events in 2002 and 2012. The response lag of vegetation to drought typically ranged from 30 to 45 days varying for different vegetation types and human activities (water use and management). Grasslands had the shortest response lag (~35 days), while forests had the longest lag period (~48 days). For specific crop types, the response lag of winter wheat varied among different regions of Nebraska (35–45 days), while soybeans, corn and alfalfa had similar response lag times of approximately 40 days.


2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Wagner ◽  
S. Beirle ◽  
T. Deutschmann ◽  
M. Grzegorski ◽  
U. Platt

Abstract. A new method for the satellite remote sensing of different types of vegetation and ocean colour is presented. In contrast to existing algorithms relying on the strong change of the reflectivity in the red and near infrared spectral region, our method analyses weak narrow-band (few nm) reflectance structures (i.e. "fingerprint" structures) of vegetation in the red spectral range. It is based on differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS), which is usually applied for the analysis of atmospheric trace gas absorptions. Since the spectra of atmospheric absorption and vegetation reflectance are simultaneously included in the analysis, the effects of atmospheric absorptions are automatically corrected (in contrast to other algorithms). The inclusion of the vegetation spectra also significantly improves the results of the trace gas retrieval. The global maps of the results illustrate the seasonal cycles of different vegetation types. In addition to the vegetation distribution on land, they also show patterns of biological activity in the oceans. Our results indicate that improved sets of vegetation spectra might lead to more accurate and more specific identification of vegetation type in the future.


Biologia ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 72 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Cvetkovska-Gjorgjievska ◽  
Slavčo Hristovski ◽  
Dana Prelić ◽  
Lucija Šerić Jelaska ◽  
Valentina Slavevska-Stamenković ◽  
...  

AbstractCarabid fauna is not sufficiently explored in Central and Western Balkan areas, especially in mountain ecosystems with unique biodiversity which is a result of specific environmental factors and geologic history. Furthermore, distribution of species and adaptation to varying environmental parameters change along the altitudinal gradients. All this highlights the need for biodiversity and ecological studies in order to assess the state of the mountain ecosystems and conservation significance. Carabids as good bioindicator group can be used as a tool for monitoring those changes. The aim of this study was to analyse the differences of body size distribution and mean individual biomass (MIB) of ground beetle assemblages as a response of changing conditions and vegetation types along an altitudinal gradient on Belasitsa Mountain in south Macedonia. Both parameters significantly decreased with increasing altitude and were consequently associated with the vegetation type. Larger bodied individuals and higher values of MIB were recorded in the white oak and oriental hornbeam forest stands with the values decreasing in sessile oak forests towards submontane and montane beech forest stands. This research yielded first list of carabid species inhabiting Belasitsa Mountain with insight of carabid body length and biomass distribution along altitudinal gradient.


2006 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 957-974 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Giglio ◽  
G. R. van der Werf ◽  
J. T. Randerson ◽  
G. J. Collatz ◽  
P. Kasibhatla

Abstract. We present a method for estimating monthly burned area globally at 1° spatial resolution using Terra MODIS data and ancillary vegetation cover information. Using regression trees constructed for 14 different global regions, MODIS active fire observations were calibrated to burned area estimates derived from 500-m MODIS imagery based on the assumption that burned area is proportional to counts of fire pixels. Unlike earlier methods, we allow the constant of proportionality to vary as a function of tree and herbaceous vegetation cover, and the mean size of monthly cumulative fire-pixel clusters. In areas undergoing active deforestation, we implemented a subsequent correction based on tree cover information and a simple measure of fire persistence. Regions showing good agreement between predicted and observed burned area included Boreal Asia, Central Asia, Europe, and Temperate North America, where the estimates produced by the regression trees were relatively accurate and precise. Poorest agreement was found for southern-hemisphere South America, where predicted values of burned area are both inaccurate and imprecise; this is most likely a consequence of multiple factors that include extremely persistent cloud cover, and lower quality of the 500-m burned area maps used for calibration. Application of our approach to the nine remaining regions yielded comparatively accurate, but less precise, estimates of monthly burned area. We applied the regional regression trees to the entire archive of Terra MODIS fire data to produce a monthly global burned area data set spanning late 2000 through mid-2005. Annual totals derived from this approach showed good agreement with independent annual estimates available for nine Canadian provinces, the United States, and Russia. With our data set we estimate the global annual burned area for the years 2001-2004 to vary between 2.97 million and 3.74 million km2, with the maximum occurring in 2001. These coarse-resolution burned area estimates may serve as a useful interim product until long-term burned area data sets from multiple sensors and retrieval approaches become available.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weihong Yan ◽  
Qiuwen Zhou ◽  
Dawei Peng ◽  
Xiaocha Wei ◽  
Xin Tang ◽  
...  

Abstract Humid karst ecosystems are fragile, with precipitation being the main source of soil moisture recharge. The process of soil moisture recharge and usage varies by vegetation type. To analyze the dynamics of soil moisture under different vegetation types during rainfall events, we continuously monitored soil moisture in arable land, grassland, shrub, and forest areas at 10-minute intervals from November 6, 2019, to January 6, 2020.The arable land was used as a control group. Soil moisture under the different vegetation types responded to light, moderate, and rainstorm events with large rainfall amounts. However, only the soil moisture in the grassland areas responded to a light rainfall event with a rainfall amount of 0.87 mm. The largest soil moisture recharge (12.63 mm) and decline (2.08%) were observed for the grassland areas, with the smallest observed for the forest areas. While the grassland areas showed the greatest decline in soil moisture following rainfall, they were more easily recharged during the winter rainfall events. Soil moisture in forests and shrubs was less recharged than in grasslands but also declined less. Therefore, forests and shrubs are better at retaining soil moisture in winter, which is informative for the formulation of a regional vegetation recovery model.


Koedoe ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
G.J. Bredenkamp ◽  
H. Bezuidenhout

A procedure for the effective classification of large phytosociological data sets, and the combination of many data sets from various parts of the South African grasslands is demonstrated. The procedure suggests a region by region or project by project treatment of the data. The analyses are performed step by step to effectively bring together all releves of similar or related plant communities. The first step involves a separate numerical classification of each subset (region), and subsequent refinement by Braun- Blanquet procedures. The resulting plant communities are summarised in a single synoptic table, by calculating a synoptic value for each species in each community. In the second step all communities in the synoptic table are classified by numerical analysis, to bring related communities from different regions or studies together in a single cluster. After refinement of these clusters by Braun-Blanquet procedures, broad vegetation types are identified. As a third step phytosociological tables are compiled for each iden- tified broad vegetation type, and a comprehensive abstract hierarchy constructed.


FLORESTA ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronaldo Viana Soares ◽  
Juliana Ferreira Santos

O conhecimento do perfil dos incêndios florestais é muito importante para o planejamento do controle dos mesmos. O objetivo deste trabalho foi estabelecer o perfil dos incêndios florestais no país através de dados coletados, em áreas protegidas, no período de 1994 a 1997, através de formulários preenchidos por empresas e instituições florestais. Foram registrados e informados 1.957 incêndios e apesar deste número não representar a totalidade dos incêndios ocorridos no período estudado, constituiu-se numa base confiável para se conhecer as principais características dos incêndios. Os resultados mostraram que a área média atingida por incêndio no período analisado foi de aproximadamente 135 ha, sendo Minas Gerais o estado líder, tanto em número de incêndios informados (62,7% do total) como em área queimada (25,2%). O grupo Incendiários foi a principal causa dos incêndios, com 56,6% das ocorrências, vindo a seguir as Queimas para limpeza com 22,1%. Com relação à área queimada o grupo Queimas para limpeza , com 74,1% da superfície atingida, foi a principal causa, ficando o grupo Incendiários em segundo lugar com 19,8%. A principal estação de incêndios no país se estende de julho a novembro, quando ocorreram 79,2% dos incêndios, correspondendo a 98,6% da área atingida. O maior número de incêndios (39,7% das ocorrências) foi registrado em Outro tipo de vegetação, que inclui cerrado, capoeira e campo. Com relação à área atingida, entretanto, 92,5% foi registrada em Florestas Nativas. Quanto à distribuição dos incêndios através das classes de tamanho, 23,9% foi enquadrado na classe I ( 0,1 ha). É importante ressaltar que quanto maior a eficiência no combate aos incêndios, maior é a concentração dos mesmos na classe I. Apesar de corresponder a apenas 2,4% das ocorrências, os incêndios da classe V ( 200,0 ha) foram responsáveis por 94,5% da área queimada. FOREST FIRE STATISTICS IN BRAZIL FROM 1994 TO 1997 Abstract Forest fire statistics knowledge is an important tool for fire control planning. The objective of this research was to collect information on forest fire occurrence in Brazilian protected areas in the period of 1994 to 1997. The analyzed variables were the number of fires and burned areas per state of the federation, monthly distribution, probable causes, affected vegetation, size class distribution, and average burned area per fire. Results showed that the average burned area per fire was approximately 135 ha and Minas Gerais ranked first, both in number of registered fires (62.7%) and burned surface (25.2%). Incendiary, with 56.6% of the occurrences was the leading cause, followed by debris burning with 22.1%. However, as for the affected area, Debris burning was the leading cause (74.1%), followed by Incendiary (19.8%). The fire season extends from July to November, when 79.2% of the fires occurred, corresponding to 98.6% of the burned surface. Miscellaneous, that includes savanna, secondary growth forest, and grassland were the most affected vegetation type (39.7% of the occurrences). In relation to the burned surface, Native Forest (92.5%) ranked first. The distribution of the registered fires through the size classes presented 23.9% of the occurrences in Class I ( 0.1 ha), whereas 94.5% of the burned area were result of Class V ( 200 ha) fires. Size Class II (0.1 to 4.0 ha), with 49.1% of the occurrences, ranked first in number of registered fires during the analyzed period.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document