Mapping burn severity and uncovering spread patterns of the 2021 Varibopi wildfire
This work unveils how the wildfire of August 3rd, 2021 that initiated at the northeastern part of Attica (Varibopi), spread and burned during the four days of its active propagation. This fire is a characteristic large-scale event that affected the wildland-urban interface of Athens, revealing weakn...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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EDP Sciences
2023-01-01
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| Series: | E3S Web of Conferences |
| Online Access: | https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2023/73/e3sconf_iced2023_02002.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797658583922376704 |
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| author | Palaiologos Palaiologou Anastasia Pantera Dimitrios Zianis Andreas Papadopoulos Stavros Zografakis |
| author_facet | Palaiologos Palaiologou Anastasia Pantera Dimitrios Zianis Andreas Papadopoulos Stavros Zografakis |
| author_sort | Palaiologos Palaiologou |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This work unveils how the wildfire of August 3rd, 2021 that initiated at the northeastern part of Attica (Varibopi), spread and burned during the four days of its active propagation. This fire is a characteristic large-scale event that affected the wildland-urban interface of Athens, revealing weaknesses of both pillars of fire management: prevention and suppression. Initially, we provide a short description of how and under which conditions (vegetation and weather) the fire initiated and propagated after debriefing reports, news articles and satellite data. Then, we applied the difference Normalized Burn Ratio on a pair of Sentinel 2A satellite images (one right before and another taken one year later) to map the extended burn severity and delineate the fire perimeter. Finally, using the Minimum Travel Time Algorithm, we simulated major spread vectors and rate of spread to answer how the fire would have been evolved in the absence of active fire suppression. We found that from the 8,445-ha included in the final delineated perimeter, 1,000 ha were unburned, 4,715 ha experienced low or moderate-low burn severity, and 2,730 moderate-high or high burn severity. Without suppression, the fire could have escaped from three directions to the west with high spread rate, potentially affecting the Parnitha National Park. The most imminent post-fire issue is not whether the conifer vegetation will recover, but if during the next decade vegetation management measures are not applied in selected locations, then a new ignition can spread faster and burn a more extended area compared to the 2021 fire. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T18:01:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8b47eb26769f4a9bae8d8aa75f59b346 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2267-1242 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T18:01:13Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | EDP Sciences |
| record_format | Article |
| series | E3S Web of Conferences |
| spelling | doaj.art-8b47eb26769f4a9bae8d8aa75f59b3462023-10-17T08:52:50ZengEDP SciencesE3S Web of Conferences2267-12422023-01-014360200210.1051/e3sconf/202343602002e3sconf_iced2023_02002Mapping burn severity and uncovering spread patterns of the 2021 Varibopi wildfirePalaiologos Palaiologou0Anastasia Pantera1Dimitrios Zianis2Andreas Papadopoulos3Stavros Zografakis4Agricultural University of Athens, Department of Forestry and Natural Environment ManagementAgricultural University of Athens, Department of Forestry and Natural Environment ManagementAgricultural University of Athens, Department of Forestry and Natural Environment ManagementAgricultural University of Athens, Department of Forestry and Natural Environment ManagementAgricultural University of Athens, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural DevelopmentThis work unveils how the wildfire of August 3rd, 2021 that initiated at the northeastern part of Attica (Varibopi), spread and burned during the four days of its active propagation. This fire is a characteristic large-scale event that affected the wildland-urban interface of Athens, revealing weaknesses of both pillars of fire management: prevention and suppression. Initially, we provide a short description of how and under which conditions (vegetation and weather) the fire initiated and propagated after debriefing reports, news articles and satellite data. Then, we applied the difference Normalized Burn Ratio on a pair of Sentinel 2A satellite images (one right before and another taken one year later) to map the extended burn severity and delineate the fire perimeter. Finally, using the Minimum Travel Time Algorithm, we simulated major spread vectors and rate of spread to answer how the fire would have been evolved in the absence of active fire suppression. We found that from the 8,445-ha included in the final delineated perimeter, 1,000 ha were unburned, 4,715 ha experienced low or moderate-low burn severity, and 2,730 moderate-high or high burn severity. Without suppression, the fire could have escaped from three directions to the west with high spread rate, potentially affecting the Parnitha National Park. The most imminent post-fire issue is not whether the conifer vegetation will recover, but if during the next decade vegetation management measures are not applied in selected locations, then a new ignition can spread faster and burn a more extended area compared to the 2021 fire.https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2023/73/e3sconf_iced2023_02002.pdf |
| spellingShingle | Palaiologos Palaiologou Anastasia Pantera Dimitrios Zianis Andreas Papadopoulos Stavros Zografakis Mapping burn severity and uncovering spread patterns of the 2021 Varibopi wildfire E3S Web of Conferences |
| title | Mapping burn severity and uncovering spread patterns of the 2021 Varibopi wildfire |
| title_full | Mapping burn severity and uncovering spread patterns of the 2021 Varibopi wildfire |
| title_fullStr | Mapping burn severity and uncovering spread patterns of the 2021 Varibopi wildfire |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mapping burn severity and uncovering spread patterns of the 2021 Varibopi wildfire |
| title_short | Mapping burn severity and uncovering spread patterns of the 2021 Varibopi wildfire |
| title_sort | mapping burn severity and uncovering spread patterns of the 2021 varibopi wildfire |
| url | https://www.e3s-conferences.org/articles/e3sconf/pdf/2023/73/e3sconf_iced2023_02002.pdf |
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