Drought regulates the burned forest areas in Mexico: the case of 2011, a record year |
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| Authors: | José Manuel Zúñiga-Vásquez Dario Cisneros-González |
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| Institution: | Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Juárez del Estado de Durango, Durango, México |
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| Abstract: | During 2011, Mexico experienced record figures in terms of forest fires, with an affected area of 956,405 ha, and an association between this activity and the meteorological conditions is suspected. We addressed the question: Are the burned areas in Mexico associated with the duration and accumulation of drought? Using the G statistic, the cluster zones of burned areas in Mexico in 2011 were analyzed, and the value of accumulated drought that was most related to these cluster zones was determined. Global and local regression models were used to evaluate the drought-burned areas association. Two cluster zones were found (zones A and B). Accumulated drought of 24 and 12 months significantly explained the burned areas of zones A and B, respectively. The burned areas of Mexico in 2011 were non-randomly distributed, and accumulated drought significantly explained the magnitude of the areas affected by fire. |
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| Keywords: | Forest fires drought regulates SPEI G statistic GWR |
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