Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis
Main Author: | |
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Publication Date: | 2020 |
Other Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | eng |
Source: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Download full: | http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/19483 |
Summary: | This paper presents a spatial characterization of the distribution at district level of the forest fire events that occurred in mainland Portugal between 1996 and 2015 and whose causes were investigated. We further examine the breakdown of the causes of these forest fires over this period. Results supported by relevant validated statistics show that of the total fire events recorded, 94.4% were identified as an effective occurrence, of which 22.2% had burned an area greater than 1 ha, and of these only 42.1% were investigated. False alarms or fires without a recorded burning area are more significant in the districts of Aveiro, Lisbon and Porto, the biggest municipalities. Of the fires whose causes were investigated, the largest number of recorded events were in NE regions (49.0%), followed by NW regions (41.7%), and finally in the rest of the country (9.3%). Taking into account the ratio between the investigated fires and the total number of fires and the behavior profile produced for cluster analysis, a different panorama is brought to light, with the center and south regions showing greater effort to investigate the fires. A thorough analysis of the causes and motivations of the ignition of these forest fire occurrences showed that human activity, either deliberate (20.4%) or negligent (29.9%), outweigh natural phenomena (0.6%). Reactivations (14.6%) and Unknown (34.5%) causes decreased as time passed, whereas negligent and deliberate causes increased. However, these results could change if the percentage of unknown information in relation to the origin of the forest fires is considerable. The outcome of this research will support an efficient management related to fire mitigation and suppression including establishing preventive actions to reduce the occurrence of forest fires and emphasize the need to improve the procedure for recording forest fire events in Portugal, especially in relation to identifying their cause |
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Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering AnalysisForest fire occurrencesIgnition causesFire in PortugalCluster analysisThis paper presents a spatial characterization of the distribution at district level of the forest fire events that occurred in mainland Portugal between 1996 and 2015 and whose causes were investigated. We further examine the breakdown of the causes of these forest fires over this period. Results supported by relevant validated statistics show that of the total fire events recorded, 94.4% were identified as an effective occurrence, of which 22.2% had burned an area greater than 1 ha, and of these only 42.1% were investigated. False alarms or fires without a recorded burning area are more significant in the districts of Aveiro, Lisbon and Porto, the biggest municipalities. Of the fires whose causes were investigated, the largest number of recorded events were in NE regions (49.0%), followed by NW regions (41.7%), and finally in the rest of the country (9.3%). Taking into account the ratio between the investigated fires and the total number of fires and the behavior profile produced for cluster analysis, a different panorama is brought to light, with the center and south regions showing greater effort to investigate the fires. A thorough analysis of the causes and motivations of the ignition of these forest fire occurrences showed that human activity, either deliberate (20.4%) or negligent (29.9%), outweigh natural phenomena (0.6%). Reactivations (14.6%) and Unknown (34.5%) causes decreased as time passed, whereas negligent and deliberate causes increased. However, these results could change if the percentage of unknown information in relation to the origin of the forest fires is considerable. The outcome of this research will support an efficient management related to fire mitigation and suppression including establishing preventive actions to reduce the occurrence of forest fires and emphasize the need to improve the procedure for recording forest fire events in Portugal, especially in relation to identifying their causeThis research was partially funded by CERENA (strategic project FCT-UID/ECI/04028/2019) and CEGOT (FCT-UID/GEO/04084/2013) and partially co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the COMPETE 2020—Operational Programme Competitiveness and Internationalization (POCI).MDPIRepositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico do PortoMeira Castro, Ana C.Nunes, AdéliaSousa, António V.Lourenço, Luciano2022-01-14T11:14:36Z20202020-01-01T00:00:00Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/19483engMeira Castro, A.C.; Nunes, A.; Sousa, A.; Lourenço, L. Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis. Geosciences 2020, 10, 53. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences1002005310.3390/geosciences10020053info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2023-03-13T13:13:49Zoai:recipp.ipp.pt:10400.22/19483Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T17:39:25.299119Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis |
title |
Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis |
spellingShingle |
Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis Meira Castro, Ana C. Forest fire occurrences Ignition causes Fire in Portugal Cluster analysis |
title_short |
Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis |
title_full |
Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis |
title_fullStr |
Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis |
title_sort |
Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis |
author |
Meira Castro, Ana C. |
author_facet |
Meira Castro, Ana C. Nunes, Adélia Sousa, António V. Lourenço, Luciano |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Nunes, Adélia Sousa, António V. Lourenço, Luciano |
author2_role |
author author author |
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv |
Repositório Científico do Instituto Politécnico do Porto |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Meira Castro, Ana C. Nunes, Adélia Sousa, António V. Lourenço, Luciano |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
Forest fire occurrences Ignition causes Fire in Portugal Cluster analysis |
topic |
Forest fire occurrences Ignition causes Fire in Portugal Cluster analysis |
description |
This paper presents a spatial characterization of the distribution at district level of the forest fire events that occurred in mainland Portugal between 1996 and 2015 and whose causes were investigated. We further examine the breakdown of the causes of these forest fires over this period. Results supported by relevant validated statistics show that of the total fire events recorded, 94.4% were identified as an effective occurrence, of which 22.2% had burned an area greater than 1 ha, and of these only 42.1% were investigated. False alarms or fires without a recorded burning area are more significant in the districts of Aveiro, Lisbon and Porto, the biggest municipalities. Of the fires whose causes were investigated, the largest number of recorded events were in NE regions (49.0%), followed by NW regions (41.7%), and finally in the rest of the country (9.3%). Taking into account the ratio between the investigated fires and the total number of fires and the behavior profile produced for cluster analysis, a different panorama is brought to light, with the center and south regions showing greater effort to investigate the fires. A thorough analysis of the causes and motivations of the ignition of these forest fire occurrences showed that human activity, either deliberate (20.4%) or negligent (29.9%), outweigh natural phenomena (0.6%). Reactivations (14.6%) and Unknown (34.5%) causes decreased as time passed, whereas negligent and deliberate causes increased. However, these results could change if the percentage of unknown information in relation to the origin of the forest fires is considerable. The outcome of this research will support an efficient management related to fire mitigation and suppression including establishing preventive actions to reduce the occurrence of forest fires and emphasize the need to improve the procedure for recording forest fire events in Portugal, especially in relation to identifying their cause |
publishDate |
2020 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2020 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z 2022-01-14T11:14:36Z |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/19483 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10400.22/19483 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
Meira Castro, A.C.; Nunes, A.; Sousa, A.; Lourenço, L. Mapping the Causes of Forest Fires in Portugal by Clustering Analysis. Geosciences 2020, 10, 53. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences10020053 10.3390/geosciences10020053 |
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv |
application/pdf |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
MDPI |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
MDPI |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação instacron:RCAAP |
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Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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RCAAP |
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RCAAP |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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