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Microwave Tools for Diagnosing Forest Fires

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Microwave Remote Sensing Tools in Environmental Science

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Abstract

Forest fires can be of natural and anthropogenic origin. Three hundred million years ago, when the first forests appeared on Earth, the anthropogenic factor was absent and the forests themselves were heavily moistened. The marshy fern thickets, horse-tails and moss could not burn. However, over time, climate change has led to situations where forest fires occur daily. It is known that the ratio of lightnings to land and oceans is 100: 1, leading to forests often fired. On average, the density of lightnings, for example in tropical and moderate-zone forests, corresponds to 50 and 5 lightnings per km2, respectively. The likelihood of a forest fire depends strongly on soil moisture. From available estimates, more than 20,000 forest fires occur worldwide each year. Their geographical distribution is determined by climate and their scale is a function of many environmental factors (soil moisture, temperature, density, species of trees, relief, etc.). From a historical point of view, forest fires have played a role in regulating the evolution of the Earth’s cover and the species of animals that have affected them. Human intervention has led to a drastic change in the age-long laws of natural evolution and changed the role of forest fires.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), Athens, Greece

    Costas A. Varotsos

  2. Institute of Radio-Engineering and Electronics, Fryazino, Russia

    Vladimir F. Krapivin

Authors
  1. Costas A. Varotsos
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  2. Vladimir F. Krapivin
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Varotsos, C.A., Krapivin, V.F. (2020). Microwave Tools for Diagnosing Forest Fires . In: Microwave Remote Sensing Tools in Environmental Science . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45767-9_6

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