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Forests
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Managing Forest Wildfires in Climate Changes: New Paradigms and Challenges—2nd...
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Managing Forest Wildfires in Climate Changes: New Paradigms and Challenges—2nd Edition

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Hazards and Risk Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2026 | Viewed by 834

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Rafael Coll Delgado

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Sciences, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Seropedica, Brazil
Interests: remote sensing; vegetation; spatial analysis; satellite image analysis; vegetation mapping; satellite image processing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Marcos Gervásio Pereira

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Soils, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), Seropédica 23897-000, RJ, Brazil
Interests: climate change; forest fires; forest soils; gross primary productivity; carbon emissions; deforestation; remote sensing and fire meteorology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Climate change has become a central theme in global discussions on environmental issues as an effort to ensure that past agreements to reduce global emissions of greenhouse gases can be fulfilled. In recent decades, catastrophes arising from anthropic actions and also resulting from natural processes that affect millions of people worldwide have been observed on all continents. Forest fires associated with anthropic issues and the increase in global temperature in recent decades have been the scene of several studies involving numerous researchers. Remote sensing has been gaining new ground and applications in recent years, enabling the generation of climate data from natural spaces, such as forest area coverage or fire advances in specific regions. The understanding of monitoring carried out by remote sensors enables the establishment of observations and the accurate analysis of climatic data and natural phenomena. In light of the global effort to combat climate change and considering the vulnerability of forests, it is crucial to understand past events of deforestation and fire outbreaks to comprehend their impact on the carbon cycle and the ecosystem services of forests.

Submitted manuscripts must be original contributions, not previously published or submitted to other journals.

Prof. Dr. Rafael Coll Delgado
Prof. Dr. Marcos Gervásio Pereira
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Forests is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • climate change
  • forest fires
  • forest soils
  • gross primary productivity
  • carbon emissions
  • deforestation
  • remote sensing
  • fire meteorology

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

34 pages, 12347 KB  
Article
Fire Danger Climatology Using the Hot–Dry–Windy Index: Case Studies from Portugal
by Cristina Andrade and Lourdes Bugalho
Forests 2025, 16(9), 1417; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16091417 - 4 Sep 2025
Viewed by 545
Abstract
Wildfires in Portugal have become increasingly frequent and severe, driven by a combination of fuel accumulation, extreme meteorological conditions, and topographic complexity. This study assesses the applicability of the Hot–Dry–Windy (HDW) index in characterizing fire-weather conditions during five major wildfires: Chamusca (2003), Pedrógão [...] Read more.
Wildfires in Portugal have become increasingly frequent and severe, driven by a combination of fuel accumulation, extreme meteorological conditions, and topographic complexity. This study assesses the applicability of the Hot–Dry–Windy (HDW) index in characterizing fire-weather conditions during five major wildfires: Chamusca (2003), Pedrógão Grande and Lousã (2017), Monchique (2018), and Covilhã (2022). HDW values were computed at sub-daily resolution and compared against a 1991–2020 climatology. This study also evaluates the HDW index as a high-resolution fire danger indicator in Portugal and compares it with the traditional FWI using percentile-based climatology. The findings indicate that during 12 and 15 UTC, HDW in the wildfires in Chamusca (2003) and Lousã (2017) exceeded 180–370 units, suggesting extreme air conditions driven by hot, dry, and windy weather patterns. These values denoted extremely flammable conditions since they were significantly higher than the 95th percentile. A distinct peak at 15 UTC for Pedrógão Grande (2017) topped 140 units (>P95), which is consistent with the ignition timing and a rapid beginning spread. A continuous HDW anomaly that peaked above 200 units between 2 August and 5 August preceded the Monchique (2018) event, suggesting extended heat stress and increased wind contribution. While not as severe as in previous instances, HDW at Covilhã (2022) was above the 75th percentile in the early afternoon (12–18 UTC). Results show that in all cases, HDW values exceeded the 90th and 95th percentiles during the hours of ignition and early fire spread, with the most critical anomalies occurring between 12 UTC and 18 UTC. Spatial analyses revealed regional-scale patterns of HDW exceedance, aligning with observed ignition zones. Comparisons with the Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI) revealed that while the FWI captured seasonal fuel aridity, the HDW more effectively resolved short-term meteorological extremes, particularly wind and atmospheric dryness. The HDW index was found to identify high-risk conditions even when FWI values were moderate, highlighting its added diagnostic value. These results support the inclusion of HDW in operational fire danger rating systems for Portugal and other Mediterranean countries, where compound fire-weather extremes are becoming more frequent due to climate change. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Managing Forest Wildfires in Climate Changes: New Paradigms and Challenges—2nd Edition)
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