State space analysis of forest fires

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2016

Authors

António Mendes Lopes (Author) FEUP; Tenreiro Machado, JAT (Author) Other

Journal

Title: JOURNAL OF VIBRATION AND CONTROL

Vol. 22

Pages: 2153-2164

ISSN: 1077-5463

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 7 Citations

Scopus - 8 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-00K-H32

DOI: 10.1177/1077546314565687

Abstract (EN): This paper studies forest fires from the perspective of dynamical systems. Burnt area, precipitation and atmospheric temperatures are interpreted as state variables of a complex system and the correlations between them are investigated by means of different mathematical tools. First, we use mutual information to reveal potential relationships in the data. Second, we adopt the state space portrait to characterize the system's behavior. Third, we compare the annual state space curves and we apply clustering and visualization tools to unveil long-range patterns. We use forest fire data for Portugal, covering the years 1980-2003. The territory is divided into two regions (North and South), characterized by different climates and vegetation. The adopted methodology represents a new viewpoint in the context of forest fires, shedding light on a complex phenomenon that needs to be better understood in order to mitigate its devastating consequences, at both economical and environmental levels.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 12