As we attempt to model the Earth System it is important that the impact of forest fires on the Earth System is fully understood and quantified. These impacts can be on climate, the biosphere, ecosystem functioning, society and livelihood. Fire disturbance has been identified by climate modellers as an Essential Climate Variable. Forest disturbance and the associated carbon flux needs to be measured and reported under the United Nations REDD+ programme. Furthermore, we have been very good at understanding the short term impacts of fire on forests, but less good at understanding the response of vegetation under different fire frequency and severity scenarios. The workshop will draw out the state of the art research being undertaken to identify and quantify these impacts.
All relevant institutions and interested individuals are invited to participate.
We invite you to submit abstracts to the workshop on the following topics:
1. Characterising the impact of fire severity and fire frequency across vegetation types
2. Validation methods for burned area mapping
3. Monitoring and modelling vegetation recovery after fire disturbance
4. Scaling from regional to global burned area maps
5. Mapping forest fires for REDD+ MRV
6. Using active fire mapping and fire radiative energy to inform on fire severity and impact
Please download the Workshop flyer. Print it out to display and distribute widely.
The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 1 March 2013.
The organisers are currently in discussion with editors to secure a special edition of selected workshop papers in an respected international journal. More information in due course.