Earth Observation of Wildland Fires in Mediterranean Ecosystems
By: edited by Emilio Chuvieco
Contributors: SpringerLink (Online service)
Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Berlin, Heidelberg
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] /
ISBN-13: 9783642017537; 9783642017544
Subjects: Remote sensing; Geographic information systems; Geography
Description: Wildland fires are becoming one of the most critical environmental factors affecting a wide range of ecosystems worldwide. In Mediterranean ecosystems (including also South-Africa, California, parts of Chile and Australia), wildland fires are recurrent phenomena every summer, following the seasonal drought. As a result of changes in traditional land use practices, and the impact of recent climate warming, fires have more negative impacts in the last years, threatening lives, socio-economic and ecological values. The book describes the ecological context of fires in the Mediterranean ecosystems, and provides methods to observe fire danger conditions and fire impacts using Earth Observation and Geographic Information System technologies.