Forest Fire Risk Assessment Using Remote Sensing Techniques (Study Area: Golestan Forest)

In this study, by using reviewing the Former reaserch sources and documents of studies that have been reviewed by other researchers regarding the research background, a set of primary and effective indicators and criteria in increasing fire risk in forested areas of the province such as distance from the river, access to existent roads, proximity to rural areas, proximity to urban areas, land cover and use, rain distribution, temperature distribution, evaporation rate in the region, altitude areas, land slope and slope direction of the region have been selected. In the following steps, using the concepts of fuzzy logic and fuzzy sets, fuzzy gamma overlap method, calculations related to the preparation of fire risk assessment map have been performed. The results show that about 30% of the area is at high risk and relatively high in fire category, playing a significant role in crisis management planning in conserving natural resources. In the next step, using the correlation test, the relationship between the values of the risk map obtained with the vegetation maps and the surface temperature prepared via MODIS images is investigated. The correlation between these two indicators is negative, 0.62. This value means that with increasing fire risk, vegetation density decreases. The results of the correlation test showed that the correlation value between the final map values obtained from fire risk preparation calculations with the LST index map values or ground temperature is about 0.60. This level of correlation is appropriate according to the geographical and climatic characteristics of the region of Golestan province in Iran.