Assessment of China’s forest fi re occurrence with deep learning, geographic information and multisource data

Considerable economic losses and ecological damage can be caused by forest fi res,and compared to suppression,prevention is a much smarter strategy.Accordingly,this study focuses on developing a novel framework to assess forest fi re risks and policy decisions on forest fi re management in China.This framework integrated deep learning algorithms,geographic information,and multisource data.Compared to conventional approaches,our framework featured timesaving,easy implementation,and importantly,the use of deep learning that vividly integrates various factors from the environment and human activities.Information on 96,594 forest fi re points from 2001 to 2019 was collected on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS)fi re hotspots from 2001 to 2019 from NASA’s Fire Information Resource Management System.The information was classifi ed into factors such as topography,climate,vegetation,and society.The prediction of forest fi re risk was generated using a fully connected network model,and spatial autocorrelation used to analyze the spatial aggregation correlation of active fi re hotspots in the whole area of China.The results show that high accuracy prediction of fi re risks was achieved(accuracy 87.4%,positive predictive value 87.1%,sensitivity 88.9%,area under curve(AUC)94.1%).Based on this,it was found that Chinese forest fi re risk shows signifi cant autocorrelation and agglomeration both in seasons and regions.For example,forest fi re risk usually raises dramatically in spring and winter,and decreases in autumn and summer.Compared to the national average,Yunnan Province,Guangdong Province,and the Greater Hinggan Mountains region of Heilongjiang Province have higher fi re risks.In contrast,a large region in central China has been recognized as having a long-term,low risk of forest fi res.All forest risks in each region were recorded into the database and could contribute to the forest fi re prevention.The successful assessment of forest fi re risks in this study provides a comprehensive knowledge of fi re risks in China over the last 20 years.Deep learning showed its advantage in integrating multiple factors in predicting forest fi re risks.This technical framework is expected to be a feasible evaluation tool for the occurrence of forest fi res in China.

Prediction of forest fire occurrence in China under climate change scenarios

Climate change has an impact on forest fire patterns.In the context of global warming,it is important to study the possible effects of climate change on forest fires,carbon emission reductions,carbon sink effects,forest fire management,and sustainable development of forest ecosystems.This study is based on MODIS active fire data from 2001-2020 and the influence of climate,topography,vegetation,and social factors were integrated.Temperature and precipitation information from different scenarios of the BCC-CSM2-MR climate model were used as future climate data.Under climate change scenarios of a sustainable low development path and a high conventional development path,the extreme gradient boosting model predicted the spatial distribution of forest fire occurrence in China in the 2030s(2021-2040),2050s(2041-2060),2070s(2061-2080),and2090s(2081-2100).Probability maps were generated and tested using ROC curves.The results show that:(1)the area under the ROC curve of training data(70%)and validation data(30%)were 0.8465 and 0.8171,respectively,indicating that the model can reasonably predict the occurrence of forest fire in the study area;(2)temperature,elevation,and precipitation were strongly correlated with fire occurrence,while land type,slope,distance from settlements and roads,and slope direction were less strongly correlated;and,(3)based on future climate change scenarios,the probability of forest fire occurrence will tend to shift from the south to the center of the country.Compared with the current climate(2001-2020),the occurrence of forest fires in 2021-2040,2041-2060,2061-2080,and 2081-2100 will increase significantly in Henan Province(Luoyang,Nanyang,S anmenxia),Shaanxi Province(Shangluo,Ankang),Sichuan Province(Mianyang,Guangyuan,Ganzi),Tibet Autonomous Region(Shannan,Linzhi,Changdu),Liaoning Province(Liaoyang,Fushun,Dandong).