Abstract
We recall the main elements of fire weather in the Mediterranean environment and present the Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI) System as the fire danger rating system currently most widely applied in Mediterranean Europe. We also present the results of some calibration studies of the FWI System component carried out in the Mediterranean environment by various authors. Secondly, we look at the distribution of FWI System component values during the 2,816 major fires (i.e. fires with final size > 500 ha) recorded in Southern Europe in the last 28 years. Finally we present a regression model we have developed that predicts (R2 = 0.87) monthly burned area in the European Mediterranean basin from monthly averages of the Initial Spread Index (ISI) and Drought Code (DC) components of FWI, valid for the months May to November.
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© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Camia, A., Amatulli, G. (2009). Weather Factors and Fire Danger in the Mediterranean. In: Chuvieco, E. (eds) Earth Observation of Wildland Fires in Mediterranean Ecosystems. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-01754-4_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-01754-4_6
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Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-01753-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-01754-4
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