02.forest fires 2012_auth-algo_23052012

3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires

22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK1

ArcFUEL methodology for mapping forest fuels in

Europe

Forest Fires 2012 Conference

Session ArcFUEL: Advancing Forest Fuel Mapping techniques in Europe

1Toukiloglou P.,

1Tompoulidou M.,

1Gitas I. and

2G.Eftychidis

1Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), GR

ALGOSYSTEMS S.A, R&D Dept., [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

2

Forest fuel mapping requirements

Forest fuel maps for all EU countries

Minimum resolution for fire propagation studies 50m

Compatibility with existing fire risk assessment applications and fire propagation simulators

Updated annually with burned areas



3

The ArcFuel mapping objectives

Use of existing spatial European data sets

Use the JRC fuel type scheme

Use free of charge available EO data

Develop a generic methodology for creating valid forest fuel maps in EU countries

Semi-automatic map production chain

Provide forest fuel maps suitable for fire management applications



JRC Forest fuel type scheme

4

Group No

Group nameFT No

Fuel type nameGroup No

Group name

FT No Fuel type name

1GROUND

FUELS

1 Peat bogs

3A

F

U

E

L

S

P

O

T

E

N

T

I

A

L

L

Y

I

N

V

O

L

V

I

N

G

C

A

N

O

P

Y

TRA

NSI

TIO

NA

L FO

RES

TS

13 Shrublands in Mediterranean conifer forests

2 Wooded peatbogs 14 Shrublands in Mediterranean sclerophylous forests

2

SUR

FAC

E FU

ELS

3 Pastures 15 Shrublands in Mediterranean montane conifer forests4 Sparse grasslands 16 Shrublands in thermophilous broadleaved forests

5 Mediterranean grasslands and steppes 17 Shrublands in beech and mesophytic broadleaved forests6 Temperate, Alpine and Northern grasslands 18 Northern open shrublands in broadleaved forests7 Mediterranean moors and heathlands 19 Shrublands in Alpine and Northern conifer forests

8Temperate, Alpine and Northern moors and heathlands

3B

CO

NIF

ERO

US

FOR

ESTS

20Mediterranean long needled conifer forest (mediterranean pines)

9 Mediterranean open shrublands (sclerophylous) 21Mediterranean scale-needled open woodlands (juniperus, cupressus)

10 Mediterranean shrublands (sclerophylous) 22Mediterranean montane long needled conifer forest (black and scots pines)

11Deciduous broadleaved shrublands (thermophilous) 23

Mediterranean montane short needled conifer forest (firs, cedar)

12 Alpine open shrublands (conifers) 25 Alpine long needled conifer forest (pines)

26 Alpine short needled conifer forest (fir, alp. spruce)27 Northern long needled conifer forest (scots pine)28 Northern short needled conifer forest (spruce)

BR

OA

D L

EAV

ED

FOR

ESTS

29 Mediterranean evergreen broadleaved forest30 Thermophilous broadleaved forest31 Mesophytic broadleaved forest32 Beech forest33 Montane beech forest 34 White birch boreal forest

4OTHER FUELS

39 Riparian vegetationM

IXED

FO

RES

TS35

Mixed mediterranean evergreen broadleaved with conifers forest

40Coastal and inland halophytic vegetation and dunes 36 Mixed thermophylous broadleaved with conifers forest

41 Aquatic Marshes 37 Mixed mesophytic broadleaved with conifers forest42 Agroforestry areas 38 Mixed beech with conifers forest



5

Data sources Main classes Dataset source

Broadleaved Rescaling of the JRC Forest type 2006

Coniferous Rescaling of the JRC Forest type 2006

MixedResampling and rescaling of the JRC

Forest type 2006

Surface fuels

The remaining area of the JRC FuelMap

map after the other main classes are

mapped

Ground fuelsCorine Land

Cover 2000/6Peatbogs

Azonic fuelsCorine Land

Cover 2000/6

Salt marshes

Salines

Interdidal flats

Inland marshes

Water courses



6

ArcFuel mapping approach



7

Main classes Sub-classes

Association

with Density

cover data

Association

with the

basic JRC

Fuel Types

Main classesSub-

classes

Association with

Density cover data

Association with the

basic JRC Fuel Types

Broadleaved Mixed

Evergre

en

Scrub Transitional forests

Evergreen

ScrubTransitional

forestsOpen

Mixed forests

Open Broadleaved

forests

Dense

Dense

Deciduo

us

Scrub Transitional forests

Deciduous

ScrubTransitional

forestsOpen

Mixed forests

Open Broadleaved

forests

Dense

Dense

Coniferous

Surface fuelsEvergreen

ScrubTransitional

forestsShrubs

Surface fuelsOpen Coniferous

forestsDense Grasses

Deciduous

ScrubTransitional

forests

Open Coniferous

forests

Groundfuels Ground fuels

Dense

Azonicfuels Otherfuels

ArcFuel-JRC fuel types association



8

Basic JRC fuel type classes

Detailed JRC fuel type classesBasic JRC fuel type classes

Detailed JRC fuel type classes

Coniferous forest

Mediterranean long needled conifer forest (mediterranean pines)

Ground fuels

PeatbogsMediterranean scale-needled open woodlands (juniperus, cupressus)

Wooded peatbogsMediterranean montane long needled conifer forest (black and scots pines)

Surface fuels

PasturesMediterranean montane short needled conifer forest (firs, cedar)

Sparse grasslands Alpine long needled conifer forest (pines)

Mediterranean grasslands and steppes Alpine short needled conifer forest (fir, alp. spruce)

Temperate, Alpine and Northern grasslands Northern long needled conifer forest (scots pine)

Mediterranean moors and heathlands Northern short needled conifer forest (spruce)

Temperate, Alpine and Northern moors and heathlands

Broadleaved forest

Mediterranean evergreen broadleaved forest

Mediterranean open shrublands (sclerophylous) Thermophilousbroadleavedforest

Mediterranean shrublands (sclerophylous) Mesophytic broadleaved forest

Deciduousbroadleavedshrublands (thermophilous) Beech forest

Alpineopenshrublands (conifers) Montane beech forest

Transitional forest

Shrublands in Mediterranean conifer forests White birch boreal forest

Shrublands in Mediterranean sclerophylous forests Mixedforest Mixed Mediterranean evergreen broadleaved with conifers forest

Shrublands in Mediterranean montane conifer forests Mixed thermophilous broadleaved with conifers forest

Shrublands in thermophilous broadleaved forests Mixed mesophytic broadleaved with conifers forest

Shrublands in beech and mesophytic broadleaved forests

Mixed beech with conifers forest

Northern open shrublands in broadleaved forests Plantations Central conifer forests (conifer plantations of central Europe)

Shrublands in Alpine and Northern conifer forests Otherfuels Riparian vegetation

Coastal and inland halophytic vegetation and dunes

Aquatic Marshes

Agroforestry areas

JRC fuel type classification scheme



Mapping the main fuel classes

9

Broadleaved

Conifers

Extraction of vegetation types from the JRC forest type map and re-sampling from 25m to 50m

25X25m

50X50 mMajority rule 0.5



Mapping Surface and Other fuels classes

10

Azonic and ground fuels

Information extracted from CLC2000

Surface fuels.

Information extracted from Fuelmap masking main and

other fuels



Multitemporal analysis of EO data

11

Landsat 7ETM for winter season (left) and Landsat 5 TM for summer season (right)



ArcFuel Greek pilot area

12

Pilot area (winter time in left and summer time in right)

Delineation of the Greek pilot area

Aristotle University’s Forest



NDVI values calculation

13

NDVI calculation for both images with the clouds and shadows masked



NDVI Difference

14

The subtracted NDVI image defining the boundary of forests (left) and forest areas (right).



Fuel classification based on NDVI difference

15

Mapping of Deciduous (yellow) and Evergreen (green) vegetation in the left image and Shrubs (brown) / Grasses (white) in the right image



Combined forest fuel classes

16



Classification including density ranges

17

1Evergreen Broadleaved Scrub

forest

2 Evergreen Broadleaved open forest

3Evergreen Broadleaved Dense

forest

4Deciduous Broadleaved Scrub

forest

5Deciduous Broadleaved open

forest

6Deciduous Broadleaved Dense

forest

7 Evergreen Coniferous Scrub forest

8 Evergreen Coniferous open forest

9 Evergreen Coniferous Dense forest

10 Deciduous Coniferous Scrub forest

11 Deciduous Coniferous open forest

12 Deciduous Coniferous Dense forest

13 Evergreen Mixed Scrub forest

14 Evergreen Mixed open forest

15 Evergreen Mixed Dense forest

16 Deciduous Mixed Scrub forest

17 Deciduous Mixed open forest

18 Deciduous Mixed Dense forest

Transitional (Scrub) forest: 0- 10%, Open forest: 10-40% Dense forest: 40-100%



ArcFuel forest fuel map

18

1 Evergreen Broadleaved Scrub forest

2 Evergreen Broadleaved open forest

3 Evergreen Broadleaved Dense forest

4 Deciduous Broadleaved Scrub forest

5 Deciduous Broadleaved open forest

6 Deciduous Broadleaved Dense forest

7 Evergreen Coniferous Scrub forest

8 Evergreen Coniferous open forest

9 Evergreen Coniferous Dense forest

10 Deciduous Coniferous Scrub forest

11 Deciduous Coniferous open forest

12 Deciduous Coniferous Dense forest

13 Evergreen Mixed Scrub forest

14 Evergreen Mixed open forest

15 Evergreen Mixed Dense forest

16 Deciduous Mixed Scrub forest

17 Deciduous Mixed open forest

18 Deciduous Mixed Dense forest

19 Shrubs

20 Grasses



Forest fuels list creation

3 fuels 6 fuels 18 fuels 20 fuels 22 fuels

Deciduous Evergreen Scrub Grass Ground

Mixed Deciduous Open Shrubs Azonic

Broadleaved Close

19

Environmental zone

(Ecoregion)

Environmental zone

(Ecoregion)

1 Alpine North 8 Pannonic – Pontic

2 Boreal 9 Lusitanian

3 Nemoral 10 Anatolian

4 Atlantic North 11 Mediterranean Mountain

5 Alpine South 12 Mediterranean North

6 Continental 13 Mediterranean South

7 Atlantic Central 14 Mediterranean East

15 Black sea

+



Conclusions

The proposed methodology of ArcFuel is still being developed and modified. Tests in the Greek pilot area provided good results so far

It will be tested and validated in context of the ArcFuel project in pilot areas in Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal.

Accuracy, efficiency and consistency of the methodology applied in large geographic areas will be tested

The proposed approach can provide a semi-automatic production chain of forest fuel maps in EU countries

The ArcFuel map production chain can provide accurate and reliable maps for all EU countries at spatial resolution of 50 m, based primarily on existing spatial datasets

The ArcFuel maps can be available for operational use with forest fire behavior applications and fire simulators in frame of modern forest fire management organization

20



21

Thank you

Documents

02.forest fires 2012_auth-algo_23052012