Dónde, cuándo y cómo ocurren grandes incendios en la provincia de La Pampa, Argentina: Una caracterización basada en sensores remotos

Abstract

Fire, as a catastrophic phenomenon, is devastating, dangerous and costly for a region. Despite its relevance, little is known about the spatial and temporal dynamics of this phenomenon in the province of La Pampa. The general objective of this work was to identify and characterize the fires, particularly the most extensive ones, that occurred in the province of La Pampa during the period July 2001-June 2017 (16 campaigns), based on the use of information provided by remote sensors. For this, information from MODIS Rapid Response heat sources, distributed by the FIRMS web system, was used. Combining information from spectral indices (NBR), precipitation data and vegetation types, the influence of predisposing factors on the occurrence of these events was studied It was observed that, in the analyzed period, between 21200 and 667500 ha/year were burned, with an average event size of 708 ha. However, in the last four seasons, an increase was recorded both in the total area burned and in the number of events ≥5 thousand ha. In the last campaign, in addition to registering the largest burned area (667500 ha), the largest number of events (10) ≥10 thousand ha (50% of the total events in this category) were observed. The total burned area in a campaign was positively related to the rainfall of the previous campaign (R2=0.76, P<0.001). The most affected vegetation was the xeric forest, followed to a lesser extent by the carob forests and the steppes and psamophilic scrubs. It is expected that the characterization of the spatial and temporal dynamics of fires using sensors will contribute to the design of prevention, early warning and control systems in the region.