Assessing the impact of climatic parameters and their inter-annual seasonal variability on fire activity using time series satellite products in South China (2001–2014)

Zeeshan Shirazi, Huadong Guo, Fang Chen (), Bo Yu and Bin Li
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Zeeshan Shirazi: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Huadong Guo: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Fang Chen: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Bo Yu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Bin Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2017, vol. 85, issue 3, No 5, 1393-1416

Abstract: Abstract China has a serious wildfire problem with a large number of fires in the south of the country especially during the winter (DJF) and spring (MAM) seasons. This study focused on identifying the causes of variability in inter-annual fire seasons. The relationship between fires and climatic parameters (precipitation, evapotranspiration and potential evapotranspiration) was evaluated on annual and seasonal (winter, spring) time scales. Certain other parameters (moisture balance, surface moisture balance, coefficient of variability of daily precipitation and ratio between evapotranspiration and potential evapotranspiration) were also calculated and related to fire variability for both time scales. Inter-annual time scale was found not to be strong enough to explain fire activity in the region; however, inter-seasonal fire variability showed significant correlation with potential evapotranspiration and with the ratio between evapotranspiration and potential evapotranspiration. The relationship and relative variability between evapotranspiration and the potential evapotranspiration were found to have important effect on inter-seasonal fire variability as compared to the other parameters studied, and link fire activity in the region to large-scale climatic systems.

Keywords: Wildfires; Fire hazard; Time series; TRMM; MODIS; Climate (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1007/s11069-016-2631-3

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