Wildfire Trend Analysis over the Contiguous United States Using Remote Sensing Observations
Understanding the evolution of wildfire regimes throughout the United States (US) is crucial in the preparation, mitigation, and planning for national wildfires. Recent wildfire trajectories demonstrating an increase in both frequency and size across the US have made documenting the changes in wildf...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-08-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/16/2565 |
| _version_ | 1827710754640363520 |
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| author | John Salguero Jingjing Li Alireza Farahmand John T. Reager |
| author_facet | John Salguero Jingjing Li Alireza Farahmand John T. Reager |
| author_sort | John Salguero |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Understanding the evolution of wildfire regimes throughout the United States (US) is crucial in the preparation, mitigation, and planning for national wildfires. Recent wildfire trajectories demonstrating an increase in both frequency and size across the US have made documenting the changes in wildfire regimes a topic of growing importance. While previous studies have examined wildfire regimes using ecoregions, this study analyzes wildfire regimes through the Geographic Area Coordination Center (GACC) regions across the Contiguous US over 34 years, 1984–2017. GACCs are geopolitical boundaries designed by wildfire agencies to promote an efficient way to distribute resources during emergencies such as wildfires. Wildfire observations originate from the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) database which records large fire events that are 1000(500) acres or greater in the Western (Eastern) US. Using GACCs and MTBS data, this study examines wildfire regimes across the Contiguous US through the following three parameters: total burned area, frequency, and average burned area. This study characterizes the trend direction of the wildfire parameters and which are statistically significant. Results demonstrate that most GACC regions display statistically significant trends, including wildfire regimes that are beyond the Western US (e.g., Southern GACC). The Northwest and Southwest GACCs demonstrate statistically significant positive trends in every parameter observed. The California and Great Basin GACCs demonstrate statistically significant positive trends in the average burned area. The Eastern GACC is the only region to not display any significant trends. Determining significant wildfire regimes and their trend direction can help wildfire agencies to minimize the negative impacts on the environment, society, and economy. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T17:44:20Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-de99504dbb9c48959ea2aa6096fde327 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T17:44:20Z |
| publishDate | 2020-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-de99504dbb9c48959ea2aa6096fde3272023-11-20T09:37:02ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922020-08-011216256510.3390/rs12162565Wildfire Trend Analysis over the Contiguous United States Using Remote Sensing ObservationsJohn Salguero0Jingjing Li1Alireza Farahmand2John T. Reager3Department of Geosciences and Environment, California State University—Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90032, USADepartment of Geosciences and Environment, California State University—Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90032, USANASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USANASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USAUnderstanding the evolution of wildfire regimes throughout the United States (US) is crucial in the preparation, mitigation, and planning for national wildfires. Recent wildfire trajectories demonstrating an increase in both frequency and size across the US have made documenting the changes in wildfire regimes a topic of growing importance. While previous studies have examined wildfire regimes using ecoregions, this study analyzes wildfire regimes through the Geographic Area Coordination Center (GACC) regions across the Contiguous US over 34 years, 1984–2017. GACCs are geopolitical boundaries designed by wildfire agencies to promote an efficient way to distribute resources during emergencies such as wildfires. Wildfire observations originate from the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) database which records large fire events that are 1000(500) acres or greater in the Western (Eastern) US. Using GACCs and MTBS data, this study examines wildfire regimes across the Contiguous US through the following three parameters: total burned area, frequency, and average burned area. This study characterizes the trend direction of the wildfire parameters and which are statistically significant. Results demonstrate that most GACC regions display statistically significant trends, including wildfire regimes that are beyond the Western US (e.g., Southern GACC). The Northwest and Southwest GACCs demonstrate statistically significant positive trends in every parameter observed. The California and Great Basin GACCs demonstrate statistically significant positive trends in the average burned area. The Eastern GACC is the only region to not display any significant trends. Determining significant wildfire regimes and their trend direction can help wildfire agencies to minimize the negative impacts on the environment, society, and economy.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/16/2565geographic area coordination centersMTBSremote sensingtrendswildfires |
| spellingShingle | John Salguero Jingjing Li Alireza Farahmand John T. Reager Wildfire Trend Analysis over the Contiguous United States Using Remote Sensing Observations Remote Sensing geographic area coordination centers MTBS remote sensing trends wildfires |
| title | Wildfire Trend Analysis over the Contiguous United States Using Remote Sensing Observations |
| title_full | Wildfire Trend Analysis over the Contiguous United States Using Remote Sensing Observations |
| title_fullStr | Wildfire Trend Analysis over the Contiguous United States Using Remote Sensing Observations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Wildfire Trend Analysis over the Contiguous United States Using Remote Sensing Observations |
| title_short | Wildfire Trend Analysis over the Contiguous United States Using Remote Sensing Observations |
| title_sort | wildfire trend analysis over the contiguous united states using remote sensing observations |
| topic | geographic area coordination centers MTBS remote sensing trends wildfires |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/16/2565 |
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