Pyrogeography: An Alternative Zonation for Europe ^†

Studies dealing with wildland fire at global or continental scales normally use coarse-resolution spatial units, within which fire-regime components are aggregated for statistical purposes. Here, we developed the first European pyrogeography based on different fire-regime components to better capture the spatial heterogeneity of fire regimes. Pyroregions were delineated through the identification of similar distributions of fire-regime components computed from a remote sensing dataset over the period 2001–2018. We identified four large-scale pyroregions with different patterns of fire activity across the continent. The spatial mismatch between the pyrogeography and ecoregions suggests that other factors, besides vegetation-based classification systems, are driving fire regimes in Europe. Comparisons of interannual climate–fire relationships at different spatial aggregations presented stronger relationships (R² = 0.65) at the pyroregion level (Figure 1). Overall, the developed pyrogeography provides a level of generalization that aids in understanding fire regimes and contributes to improving the performance of statistical models that predict future fire regimes. Therefore, pyroregions can also be understood as a tool for effective fire risk management and planning.