Earth Observation of Wildland Fires in Mediterranean Ecosystems

by Emilio Chuvieco (Editor)

Overview

Wildland fires are becoming one of the most critical environmental factors affecting a wide range of ecosystems worldwide. In Mediterranean ecosystems (including also South-Africa, California, parts of Chile and Australia), wildland fires are recurrent phenomena every summer, following the seasonal drought. As a result of changes in traditional land use practices, and the impact of recent climate warming, fires have more negative impacts in the last years, threatening lives, socio-economic and ecological values. The book describes the ecological context of fires in the Mediterranean ecosystems, and provides methods to observe fire danger conditions and fire impacts using Earth Observation and Geographic Information System technologies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783642017537
Publisher:	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publication date:	11/05/2009
Edition description:	2009
Pages:	257
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.80(d)

Table of Contents

1 Global Impacts of Fire Emilio Chuvieco 1

2 Eternal Flame: An Introduction to the Fire History of the Mediterranean Stephen J. Pyne 11

3 Fires and Landscape Conservation in Mediterranean Ecosystems Jan W. van Wagtendonk 27

4 Mapping Fire Risk in Mediterranean Ecosystems of California: Vegetation type, Density, Invasive Species, and Fire Frequency Susan L. Ustin David Riaño Alexander Koltunov Dar A. Roberts Philip E. Dennison 41

5 Fire Danger, Fire Detection, Quantification of Burned Areas and Description of Post-Fire Vegetation in the Central Area of Chile Dante Corti González Roberto Castro Rios 55

6 Weather Factors and Fire Danger in the Mediterranean Andrea Camia Giuseppe Amatulli 71

7 Estimation of Fuel Conditions for Fire Danger Assessment Emilio Chuvieco Jan Wagtendonk David Riaño Marta Yebra Susan L. Ustin 83

8 Impacts of Fire on Society: Extreme Fire Propagation Issues Domingos X. Viegas L. M. Ribeiro M. T. Viegas L. P. Pita C. Rossa 97

9 Effects of Fire on Vegetation, Soil and Hydrogeomorphological Behavior in Mediterranean Ecosystems Fernando Pérez-Cabello María Teresa Echeverría Paloma Ibarra Juan de la Riva 111

10 Remote Sensing of Burn Severity Ioannis Z. Gitas Angela de Santis George H. Mitri 129

11 Human Factors of Fire Occurrence in the Mediterranean Vittorio Leone Raffaella Lovreglio M. Pilar Martín Jesús Martínez Lara Vilar 149

12 Forest Fire Emissions and Air Pollution in Southern Europe Ana I. Miranda Carlos Borrego Helena Martins Vera Martins Jorge H. Amorim Joana Valente Anabela Carvalho 171

13 Forest Fires in the European Mediterranean Region: Mapping and Analysis of Burned Areas Jesús San-Miguel-Ayanz Jose M. C. Pereira Roberto Boca Peter Strobl Jan Kucera Anssi Pekkarinen 189

References 205

Colour Plate Section 245

Index 255