Next Article in Journal
Climate Forcings and Their Influence in the Cordillera Blanca, Perú, Deduced from Spectral Analysis Techniques
Previous Article in Journal
Prioritization of Specific Pollutants in the Scope of EU Water Framework Directive in Turkey
 
 
Please note that, as of 4 December 2024, Environmental Sciences Proceedings has been renamed to Environmental and Earth Sciences Proceedings and is now published here.
Font Type:
Arial Georgia Verdana
Font Size:
Aa Aa Aa
Line Spacing:
Column Width:
Background:
Abstract

Assessment of Post-Fire Vegetation Recovery Using Fire Severity in Sardinia (Oristano—Montiferru) †

by
Raffaella Lovreglio
1,*,
Antonio Ganga
2 and
Francesca Putzolu
1
1
Department of Agriculture, University of Sassari, Via Cristoforo Colombo 1, 08100 Nuoro, Italy
2
Department of Architecture, Design and Urban Planning, University of Sassari, 07100 Sassari, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Presented at the Third International Conference on Fire Behavior and Risk, Sardinia, Italy, 3–6 May 2022.
Environ. Sci. Proc. 2022, 17(1), 123; https://doi.org/10.3390/environsciproc2022017123
Published: 5 September 2022
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of The Third International Conference on Fire Behavior and Risk)

Abstract

:
On 23 and 24 July in the province of Oristano (central western Sardinia) in the massif of Montiferru, an event classified as extreme wildfire (EWE) occurred, with vast-proportion fires at the limit of the so-called control capacity (internationally established as at or exceeding a fire intensity of 10,000 kwm−1, and rate of spread of 3 km/h). The impact of this great fire was mainly on the people who live in the area (houses and farms destroyed) and on the agro-pastoral activities that take place, but, after the event, the most dangerous of the effects of a large-scale fire may occur on soil and hydrogeological and slope stability. From a first mapping, the damaged woods are relatively few; in fact, the forests comprised about 10% of the surface covered by the fire, whereas the remainder is Mediterranean bush (34%), grassland (32%), agricultural areas (23%) and urban areas (1%) (2013 Geolab Unifi elaborations). Therefore, the first aim of this study is to map the event using the Sentinel 2-A data to map burnt areas and to define severity classes. The Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) was calculated to identify ‘burn scar’ and discriminate the ‘burn severity’ classes. We have also quantified the burnt areas in terms of land-cover categories and types of vegetation damaged by fire to define the postfire restoration measures after fires, both to limit problems of land loss and facilitate the natural return of vegetation. The different strategies to restore burnt areas at different scales (e.g., slope or basin) depend on the level of severity of the fire and are divided into three main groups: (1) support regeneration or rehabilitation, (2) restoration, and (3) emergency stabilization. The secondary study aim is therefore to define specific post-fire intervention strategies concerning the different severity gradients estimated in fire areas.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization: R.L., A.G. and F.P.; methodology, A.G. and R.L.; software: A.G. and F.P.; formal analysis, A.G. and F.P.; investigation A.G. and F.P.; resources: A.G. and F.P.; data curation: A.G. and F.P.; writing—original draft preparation: R.L., A.G. and F.P.; writing—review and editing: R.L., A.G. and F.P. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Not applicable.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Lovreglio, R.; Ganga, A.; Putzolu, F. Assessment of Post-Fire Vegetation Recovery Using Fire Severity in Sardinia (Oristano—Montiferru). Environ. Sci. Proc. 2022, 17, 123. https://doi.org/10.3390/environsciproc2022017123

AMA Style

Lovreglio R, Ganga A, Putzolu F. Assessment of Post-Fire Vegetation Recovery Using Fire Severity in Sardinia (Oristano—Montiferru). Environmental Sciences Proceedings. 2022; 17(1):123. https://doi.org/10.3390/environsciproc2022017123

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lovreglio, Raffaella, Antonio Ganga, and Francesca Putzolu. 2022. "Assessment of Post-Fire Vegetation Recovery Using Fire Severity in Sardinia (Oristano—Montiferru)" Environmental Sciences Proceedings 17, no. 1: 123. https://doi.org/10.3390/environsciproc2022017123

APA Style

Lovreglio, R., Ganga, A., & Putzolu, F. (2022). Assessment of Post-Fire Vegetation Recovery Using Fire Severity in Sardinia (Oristano—Montiferru). Environmental Sciences Proceedings, 17(1), 123. https://doi.org/10.3390/environsciproc2022017123

Article Metrics

Back to TopTop