How Big is a Fire in Northern South American Savannas?

 

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Corredor Llano, Xavier, Armenteras Pascual, Dolors, Niño, Luis Fernando
Formato: artículo original
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de Publicación:2018
Descripción:Knowing the extent of burned areas in the tropics is vital due to their environmental impacts. The Colombian Orinoquía region is affected by a burning season every year and presents natural conditions for the development of considerable size fires. The goal of this study was to determine what size a fire needs to be in order to be considered large, as well as the characteristics of these fires in the study area. For such purpose, a methodology was developed and applied based on MODIS satellite images, which were used to analyze and identify burned footprints using available historical data. The threshold used to consider a burned footprint as a “large fire” (≥214 ha) was determined by adapting Pareto’s 80-20 principle applied to the time series available and the particular conditions of the study region. Further analysis was conducted to establish temporality of burned areas by identifying the large burned areas between 2000 and 2014. Results show that large fires last approximately three days and cover an average of approximately 625 hectares. The largest fires occurred in regions with the highest occurrence of fires over the years, specifically, in areas with flat topography and vegetation cover prone to burning.
País:Portal de Revistas UNA
Institución:Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica
Repositorio:Portal de Revistas UNA
Lenguaje:Español
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.www.una.ac.cr:article/10813
Acceso en línea:https://www.revistas.una.ac.cr/index.php/perspectivasrurales/article/view/10813
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Orinoquía
Colombia
large fires
satellite images
grandes incendios
imágenes satelitales