CONTRIBUTION OF SATELLITE IMAGERY TO THE CHARACTERIZATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CLIMATE AND PYROLOGICAL VARIABLES OF BUSH FIRES IN THE SAVANNAH ZONE (case of the BOUNKANI REGION)

Kambire Sie,Talnan Jean Honore Coulibaly,Naga Coulibaly,Lanciné Droh Gone,Gaoussou Sylla,Koffi Claude Alain Kouadio,Issiaka Savane,Issa Camara,Houebagnon Saint Jean Patrick Coulibaly,Souleyman Cissé

doi:10.26480/ees.01.2021.64.72

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to characterize the bushfire regime and the climatic factors influencing its propagation in the Bounkani region. Thus, this work analyzes the spatio-temporal dynamics of fires and the relationship between climatic variables and pyrological variables. First, it exploits time series of active fires and burned areas from MODIS Active fires (MCD14ML) and MODIS Burned area (MCD60A1) data for the period from 2000 to 2017. The methodology is based on the evaluation of seasonality and fire occurrences, and on the spatio-temporal evolution of fires. The results obtained indicate that, on average, the fire season occurs between the months of November and March, generally corresponding to the dry season. Also, the number of fires and the area burned follow a decreasing trend during the 17 years of study. The months of December and January recorded the highest peaks of burned areas and fire outbreaks respectively. Finally, the analysis of the dependence between climatic variables and pyrological variables by the Pearson correlation method showed the influence of climatic parameters in the outbreak and spread of bushfires in the study area. Precipitation and relative humidity are the best predictors with a negative influence on fire activity, while the positive predictors remain temperature. These variables directly impact fire regime in general. The results of this study will assist policy makers and managers in decision making for the implementation of fire control strategies.

Highlights

Bushfires are one of the main direct threats to biodiversity degradation
This paper aims to characterize the bushfire regime and climatic factors influencing its spread in order to predict fire behavior in the Bounkani region of northeastern Cote d'Ivoire
Fire seasonality was determined from the number of active fires and burned areas detected by the MODIS sensor at monthly intervals over the observation period of 2000 to 2017

Summary

Introduction

Bushfires are one of the main direct threats to biodiversity degradation These fires cause several consequences including devastation and reduction of forest areas, loss of sensitive species, exposure of soils to wind and water erosion, and destruction of wildlife habitats, as well as large areas of agricultural land that are consumed (Scott, 1993; Lewis et al 2006; Laris and Bakkouri, 2008; Kabore, 2010; Agus et al, 2019; Eskandari and Eskandari, 2019; FAO, 1996, 2006, 2009). Notwithstanding these adverse effects, fires are generally practiced for a variety of reasons such as maintaining grazing areas as grassy savannah, cleaning up crop residues, land appropriation and palm wine extractions (Louppe et al, 1995; Fournier et al, 2014; Agus et al, 2019; Christopoulou et al, 2019). Under the recurrent threat of bushfires, the technical structures in charge of the issue use multiple fire control and prevention

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