13 documents found, page 1 of 2
A Near-Real-Time Operational Live Fuel Moisture Content (LFMC) Product to Suppo...
Benali, Akli; Baldassarre, Giuseppe; Loureiro, Carlos; Briquemont, Florian; Fernandes, Paulo M.; Rossa, Carlos; Figueira, RuiLive fuel moisture content (LFMC) significantly influences fire activity and behavior over different spatial and temporal scales. The ability to estimate LFMC is important to improve our capability to predict when and where large wildfires may occur. Currently, there is a gap in providing reliable near-real-time LFMC estimates which can contribute to better operational decision-making. The objective of this wor...
Práticas para a gestão de recursos hídricos em bacias hidrográficas com históri...
Nunes, João; Parente, Joana; Benali, Akli; Nitzsche, N.; Prats, Sergio; Sá, Ana; Brito, Carlos; Dias, LuisOs incêndios rurais são um fenómeno recorrente em Portugal. Muitas vezes as cinzas produzidas por estes incêndios atingem as massas de água utilizadas para o abastecimento público, comprometendo a sua qualidade. Num exemplo recente, as cinzas resultantes dos incêndios de 2017 levaram à interrupção do abastecimento de água a algumas localidades, e à implementação de programas de monitorização adicional em outras...
Defining priorities for wildfire mitigation actions at the local scale: insight...
Benali, Akli; Aparício, Bruno A.; Gonçalves, Ana; Oliveira, SandraIntroduction: In Portugal, the 2017 fire season was particularly extreme, leading to an unprecedented large number of fatalities, injured people, destruction of houses and infrastructures. These dramatic outcomes have contributed to raise awareness regarding the importance of ensuring the safety of people and assets from high intensity uncontrollable wildfires. It is crucial to identify the settlements at highe...
The Portuguese Large Wildfire Spread database (PT-FireSprd)
Benali, Akli; Guiomar, Nuno; Gonçalves, Hugo; Mota, Bernardo; Silva, Fábio; Fernandes, Paulo M.; Mota, Carlos; Penha, Alexandre; Santos, JoãoWildfire behaviour depends on complex interactions between fuels, topography, and weather over a wide range of scales, being important for fire research and management applications. To allow for significant progress towards better fire management, the operational and research communities require detailed open data on observed wildfire behaviour. Here, we present the Portuguese Large Wildfire Spread database (PT...
How do large wildfires impact sediment redistribution over multiple decades?
Follmi, Dante; Baartman, Jantiene; Benali, Akli; Nunes, João PedroWildfires have become an increasing threat for Mediterranean ecosystems, due to increasing climate change-induced wildfire activity and changing land management practices. In addition to the initial risk, wildfires can alter the soil in various ways—depending on fire severity—and cause enhanced post-fire erosion. Usually, post-fire erosion studies focus on a short time window and lack the attention for sediment...
Drivers of extreme burnt area in Portugal: fire weather and vegetation
Menezes, Tomás; Benali, Akli; Pereira, Mário Gonzalez; Silva, João M. N.; Nunes, João PedroFire weather indices are used to assess the effect of weather on wildfire behaviour and to support fire management. Previous studies identified the high daily severity rating percentile (DSRp) as being strongly related to the total burnt area (BA) in Portugal, but it is still poorly understood how this knowledge can support fire management at a smaller spatial scale. The aims of this study were to (1) assess wh...
Avaliação da exposição das comunidades locais a incêndios rurais:
do Nascimento Gonçalves, Ana Cristina; Oliveira, Sandra; Sá, Ana; Benali, Akli; Zêzere, José Luís; Pereira, José MiguelA freguesia de Alvares, no concelho de Góis, foi muito afetada pelos incêndios de junho de 2017, tendo ardido 70% da sua área. Para melhorar a proteção das comunidades locais e aumentar a sua capacidade de resposta, é fundamental avaliar o nível de exposição das povoações a grandes incêndios. Neste sentido, foi avaliado o nível de exposição das povoações da freguesia, combinando a densidade dos elementos expost...
Combining landscape fire simulations with stand-level growth simulations to ass...
Barreiro, Susana; Benali, Akli; Rua, João C.P.; Tomé, Margarida; Santos, José L.; Pereira, José M.C.The wildfire regime in Portugal has been responsible for millions of hectares of burnt area, and Alvares parish is no exception. In 2017, a severe wildfire burnt 60% of its area. Land abandonment has been increasing since the mid 20th century, and a large fraction of the forest area belongs to quasi-absent landowners. This has given rise to large, almost unbroken expanses of undermanaged forests that, in combin...
Understanding the impact of different landscape-level fuel management strategie...
Benali, Akli; Sá, Ana C.L.; Pinho, João; Fernandes, Paulo M.; Cardoso Pereira, José MiguelThe extreme 2017 fire season in Portugal led to widespread recognition of the need for a paradigm shift in forest and wildfire management. We focused our study on Alvares, a parish in central Portugal located in a fire-prone area, which had 60% of its area burned in 2017. We evaluated how different fuel treatment strategies may reduce wildfire hazard in Alvares through (i) a fuel break network with different ex...
Assessing risk and prioritizing safety interventions in human settlements affec...
Oliveira, Sandra; Gonçalves, Ana; Benali, Akli; Sá, Ana; Zêzere, José; Pereira, José MiguelThe large wildfires of June 2017 disturbed many communities in central Portugal. The civil parish of Alvares was severely affected, with about 60% of its area burnt. Assessing the risk of large wildfires affecting local communities is becoming increasingly important, to reduce potential losses in the future. In this study, we assessed wildfire risk for the 36 villages of Alvares parish, by combining hazard, exp...