EGU2020-5872, updated on 12 Jun 2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-5872
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Coupling wildfire spread and erosion models to quantify post-fire erosion in Northern Sardinia, Italy

Liliana Del Giudice1, Bachisio Arca1, Peter Robichaud2, Alan Ager2, Annalisa Canu1, Pierpaolo Duce1, Grazia Pellizzaro1, Andrea Ventura1, Fermin Alcasena-Urdiroz3, Donatella Spano4, and Michele Salis1
Liliana Del Giudice et al.
  • 1National Research Center of Italy, Institute of BioEconomy of Sassari, Italy (liliana.delgiudice@ibe.cnr.it; michele.salis@ibe.cnr.it)
  • 2USDA Forest Service, USA
  • 3University of Lleida, Spain
  • 4University of Sassari, Italy

High severity wildfires can have many negative impacts on ecosystems. In this work, we coupled wildfire spread and erosion prediction modelling to evaluate the effects of fuel reduction treatments in preventing soil runoff in Mediterranean ecosystems. The study was carried out in a 68,000-ha forest area located in Northern Sardinia, Italy. We treated 15% of the study area, and compared no-treatment conditions vs alternative strategic fuel treatments. We estimated pre- and post-treatment fire behaviour by using the Minimum Travel Time (MTT) fire spread algorithm. For each fuel treatment scenario, we simulated 25,000 wildfires replicating the historic weather conditions associated with severe wildfires in the area. Sediment delivery was then estimated using the Erosion Risk Management Tool (ERMiT). Our results showed how post-fire sediment delivery varied among and within the fuel treatment scenarios tested. The treatments realized nearby roads were the most efficient. We also evaluated the effects of other factors such as exceedance probability, time since fire, slope, fire severity and vegetation type on post-fire sediment delivery. This work provides a quantitative assessment approach to inform and optimize proactive risk management activities aimed at reducing post-fire erosion in Mediterranean areas.

How to cite: Del Giudice, L., Arca, B., Robichaud, P., Ager, A., Canu, A., Duce, P., Pellizzaro, G., Ventura, A., Alcasena-Urdiroz, F., Spano, D., and Salis, M.: Coupling wildfire spread and erosion models to quantify post-fire erosion in Northern Sardinia, Italy, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-5872, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-5872, 2020

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