New Remote Sensing Technologies Applied to the Prediction of Spontaneous Forest Fires

Abstract

One of the causes of a forest fire is a combination of environmental variables such as temperature and relative humidity, as well as wind speed. When environmental conditions are favorable, chemical reactions occur at the forest mass level, resulting in pre-ignition. A big-data analysis of three spontaneous forest fires that occurred in Spain between 2015 and 2019 was performed to determine the chemical compound from which the forest fire starts. After analyzing satellite data, it was discovered that the critical temperature at which a fire starts spontaneously is 51.27°C, a value that coincides with the maximum limit of decrease in environmental sulfur dioxide concentration ([SO2]), presumably due to sulfur capture by part of the wood, an element that is released into the environment after the fire occurs. The Spontaneous Forest Fire Process (SFFP) and fAPAR have a close relationship because pre-ignition occurs when the critical temperature determined by environmental conditions is reached.