Current indexes have shown limitations in estimating the different dimensions of fire risk, mainly because they are based on meteorological variables. In most cases, they fail to include information on fuel moisture status and trends, fuel abundance and composition, ignition sources exposure or vulnerability is included in these indices. This limitation has been evident in Spain’s recent fire seasons, where traditional indices have struggled to anticipate the explosive conditions that led o large-scale fires.
FirEO castwill advance paths to improve fire danger indexes by considering the atmospheric instability, which can influence the spread and behaviour of fires, particularly in severe conditions, which can lead to potentially catastrophic events. And by better describing the fuel properties, including the static component (fuel loads and geometric characteristics) and the dynamic one (fuel moisture), which both will be estimated from satellite observations.
isardSAT is leading the consortium, and will provide the fuel moisture content data.
Video credits: Sentinel-2 (Copernicus/ESA), Meteosat-12 (EUMETSAT), EFFIS (Copernicus EMS), FIRMS (NASA). Processed by isardSAT.