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Environmental Remote Sensing and GIS in Iraq pp 499–513Cite as

Mapping Forest-Fire Potentiality Using Remote Sensing and GIS, Case Study: Kurdistan Region-Iraq

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Abstract

During recent years a large number of wildfires have been reported among Kurdistan region forests and rangelands. Forest fires are a source of concern for environmental, economy, society, human safety and population in many parts of the world. From an ecological point of view, fire is an important factor that plays a basic role to determine vegetation diversity and dynamics. Since Kurdistan’s region, north of Iraq, is almost the only area in Iraq where forests are still remaining so they have been playing a vital role in the region’s ecosystem. Regarding these facts, it is highly important to develop rapid, accurate and reliable maps, as this study is aiming to, that show fire potentiality to take precautionary action beforehand. Remote Sensing (RS) data and techniques are, today, one of the most reliable tools that provides temporal and spatial coverage of biomass burning, defining Vegetation Indices (VI), without costly and expensive fieldwork. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), among them, have been strongly proposed to be used as a useful tool in order to estimate the proneness of vegetation to fire. Accordingly, this study has tried to develop a fire potential map by integration of satellite and field data, for Kurdistan region, in the North of Iraq. MODIS times series with 250 m of spatial resolution, taken in 2010, used to prepare NDVI layer. The developed map revealed a high match between the potential map, develop based on 2010 image, and fired location from 2014 to 2015. The output map reveals that, Rs and GIS are a priceless tool to manage and monitor natural hazardous phenomenon, like wildfires.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like acknowledge the Department of Forest and Rangeland management of Sulaimani Province for their cooperation providing the data for this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surveying, Darbandikhan Technical Institute, Sulaimani Polytechnic University, Darbandikhan, Sulaimani, Iraq

    Iraj Rahimi, Salim N. Azeez & Imran H. Ahmed

Authors
  1. Iraj Rahimi
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  2. Salim N. Azeez
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  3. Imran H. Ahmed
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Iraj Rahimi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. College of Engineering, Knowledge University, Erbil, Iraq

    Ayad M. Fadhil Al-Quraishi

  2. Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt

    Abdelazim M. Negm

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Rahimi, I., Azeez, S.N., Ahmed, I.H. (2020). Mapping Forest-Fire Potentiality Using Remote Sensing and GIS, Case Study: Kurdistan Region-Iraq. In: Al-Quraishi, A., Negm, A. (eds) Environmental Remote Sensing and GIS in Iraq. Springer Water. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21344-2_20

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