Characterisation of spatio - temporal patterns of forest fires in South Asia

Forest fire is considered one of the major threat to global biodiversity.
Irrespective of causes of fires, burning leads to carbon emissions which has direct influence on
atmospheric chemistry. The present study, attempted to analyse distribution of fire incidences in
different forest types of South Asia using very high temporal MODIS data during 2003 to 2017.
In order to characterize fire regimes, daily MODIS data on active fire locations were aggregated
into 5 km x 5 km grid cells. The number of fire points detected across the forest types was
estimated to analyse fire regimes with reference to frequency and vulnerability. Spatial analysis
identified zones of frequent burning and high fire density in south Asian countries. Monthly mean
fire incidences recorded high fire occurrence in March for India while Afghanistan and Pakistan
represented more fires in June. In contrast to it, Bangladesh and Nepal affected by high number
of fire incidences in April. Among the forest types, moist deciduous forests represent highest fires
followed by dry deciduous forests. Among the seven countries, India shows highest number
(88.1%) of forest occurrences, followed by Bangladesh and Nepal. The year 2009 shows highest
fire occurrences in the study period with contribution of 9.9% followed by 2012 (8.7%) which
were considered as warmest years. About 1054 grid cells were affected by fires in South Asia
through the study period (2003-2017). Estimation of carbon emissions in Bangladesh reveals that
about 6.97 Tg yr-1 of CO2
has been emitted due to fires in 2017. Among different forests, Open
dry deciduous type of forest contributes about 70.4% followed by dense moist deciduous type of
forest with 13.9% of CO2
emissions in 2017. Study results offer critical insights for conservation
of forests in South Asian countries. Delineation of fire vulnerable forest types and landscapes at 5
km grid level will stand as a valuable input for management of fires in South Asia.

MPhil EI 2017-2018 INT Dr. Jaishanker R Nair