Time series analysis of wildfire propagation in Chile: A complex networks approach

Iván Gallo-Méndez, Jaime Clark and Denisse Pastén

Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, 2025, vol. 196, issue C

Abstract: Wildfires are a recurrent and devastating phenomenon that has expanded in Chile and various places worldwide, with complex propagation patterns influenced by environmental, climatic, and anthropogenic factors. In this study, we employ a complex network framework to analyze the temporal and spatial dynamics of fire propagation throughout Chile. Using publicly available data on wildfires, including their locations and dates of occurrence, we map the position and timing of events onto an undirected spatial complex network to characterize fire propagation in Chile’s central and southern zones from a multifractal point of view. We construct a time series associated with the connectivity of nodes, where each event is assigned to a node by position match. Traversing the network sequentially, based on the date and time of the events, generates the connectivity time series, which captures spatiotemporal information. Our analysis demonstrates that the graph exhibits hallmark complexity features. In addition, through an analysis of the connectivity time series, we uncover the multifractal nature of the system. In particular, we show that the central zone exhibits a more remarkable persistence of multifractal behavior than the southern zone, which could provide insights into the underlying dynamics of the system and be valuable for identifying regions with heightened structural or temporal complexity. We expect our findings will contribute to understanding the spatial heterogeneity of fire distribution in Chile and serve as a precedent for future research.

Keywords: Complex networks; Complex systems; Wildfire spread; Multifractality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960077925003601
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:chsofr:v:196:y:2025:i:c:s0960077925003601

DOI: 10.1016/j.chaos.2025.116347

Access Statistics for this article

Chaos, Solitons & Fractals is currently edited by Stefano Boccaletti and Stelios Bekiros

More articles in Chaos, Solitons & Fractals from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Thayer, Thomas R. ().