Abstract

CISNEROS VACA, César; CALAHORRANO, Julia  and  MANZANO, Mery. Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Wildfires in Ecuador Using Remote Sensing Data. Colomb. for. [online]. 2024, vol.27, n.1, e20111.  Epub Mar 19, 2024. ISSN 0120-0739.  https://doi.org/10.14483/2256201x.20111.

This study investigated the spatial and temporal distribution of forest fires in Ecuador for the 2001-2020 period. MODIS satellite images (product MCD64A1v 6.0) were used to analyze burning areas on a national scale. This information was combined with maps of geographic regions, protected areas, and vegetation cover types in order to obtain historical statistics for the studied period. The results show that (a) there is a total cumulative burned area of is 7297.5 km2, i.e., 2.9% of the territory (Litoral was the most affected region);(b) the largest burning area corresponds to agricultural lands, with 440 772 ha; (c) from 2010 on, high burning values were detected in the Litoral and Andes regions, with 2016 being the year of highest incidence; and (d) 4.9% of the total burned areas identified are in protected areas. These findings provide information that contributes to the construction of comprehensive public policies for fire management in Ecuador.

Keywords : forest; MODIS; burning; vegetation.

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