1. ArcFUEL methodology for
mapping forest fuels in
Europe
Forest Fires 2012 Conference
Session ArcFUEL: Advancing Forest Fuel Mapping techniques in Europe
1 1 1 2
Toukiloglou P., Tompoulidou M., Gitas I. and G.Eftychidis
1
Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), GR
ALGOSYSTEMS S.A, R&D Dept., GR
geftihid@algosystems.gr
3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires 1
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

2. Forest fuel mapping requirements
Forest fuel maps for all EU countries
Minimum resolution for fire propagation
studies 50m
Compatibility with existing fire risk
assessment applications and fire
propagation simulators
Updated annually with burned areas
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3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

3. The ArcFuel mapping objectives
Use of existing spatial European data sets
Use the JRC fuel type scheme
Use free of charge available EO data
Develop a generic methodology for creating
valid forest fuel maps in EU countries
Semi-automatic map production chain
Provide forest fuel maps suitable for fire
management applications
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3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

4. JRC Forest fuel type scheme
Group FT Grou Group
Group name Fuel type name FT No Fuel type name
No No p No name
GROUND 1 Peat bogs 13 Shrublands in Mediterranean conifer forests
1 F
FUELS
TRANSITIONAL
2 Wooded peatbogs 14 Shrublands in Mediterranean sclerophylous forests
U
FORESTS
3 Pastures 15 Shrublands in Mediterranean montane conifer forests
E
4 Sparse grasslands 3A 16 Shrublands in thermophilous broadleaved forests
L
5 Mediterranean grasslands and steppes 17 Shrublands in beech and mesophytic broadleaved forests
S
6 Temperate, Alpine and Northern grasslands 18 Northern open shrublands in broadleaved forests
SURFACE FUELS
7 Mediterranean moors and heathlands 19 Shrublands in Alpine and Northern conifer forests
Temperate, Alpine and Northern moors and P Mediterranean long needled conifer forest (mediterranean
2 8 heathlands O 20 pines)
Mediterranean scale-needled open woodlands (juniperus,
CONIFEROUS FORESTS
T
9 Mediterranean open shrublands (sclerophylous) E 21 cupressus)
Mediterranean montane long needled conifer forest (black
N
10 Mediterranean shrublands (sclerophylous) C 22 and scots pines)
Deciduous broadleaved shrublands T Mediterranean montane short needled conifer forest (firs,
A
11 (thermophilous) I 23 cedar)
N
12 Alpine open shrublands (conifers) A 25 Alpine long needled conifer forest (pines)
O
L 26 Alpine short needled conifer forest (fir, alp. spruce)
P
L 27 Northern long needled conifer forest (scots pine)
Y 28 Northern short needled conifer forest (spruce)
3B Y
29 Mediterranean evergreen broadleaved forest
BROAD LEAVED
30 Thermophilous broadleaved forest
FORESTS
I 31 Mesophytic broadleaved forest
N 32 Beech forest
V 33 Montane beech forest
O 34 White birch boreal forest
L Mixed mediterranean evergreen broadleaved with conifers
39 Riparian vegetation V MIXED FORESTS 35 forest
OTHER Coastal and inland halophytic vegetation and
4 I
FUELS 40 dunes 36 Mixed thermophylous broadleaved with conifers forest
N
41 Aquatic Marshes 37 Mixed mesophytic broadleaved with conifers forest
42 Agroforestry areas G 38 Mixed beech with conifers forest
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3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

5. Data sources
Main classes Dataset source
Broadleaved Rescaling of the JRC Forest type 2006
Coniferous Rescaling of the JRC Forest type 2006
Resampling and rescaling of the JRC
Mixed
Forest type 2006
The remaining area of the JRC FuelMap
Surface fuels map after the other main classes are
mapped
Corine Land
Ground fuels Peatbogs
Cover 2000/6
Salt marshes
Salines
Corine Land
Azonic fuels Interdidal flats
Cover 2000/6
Inland marshes
Water courses
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3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

6. ArcFuel mapping approach
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3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

7. ArcFuel-JRC fuel types association
Association
Association
with the Sub- Association with Association with the
Main classes Sub-classes with Density Main classes
basic JRC classes Density cover data basic JRC Fuel Types
cover data
Fuel Types
Scrub Transitional forests
Transitional Evergre
Scrub en Open
forests Mixed forests
Evergreen Open Dense
Broadleaved
Broadleaved Dense forests Mixed Scrub Transitional forests
Transitional Deciduo
Scrub us Open
forests Mixed forests
Deciduous
Open Broadleaved Dense
Dense forests
Transitional
Scrub Shrubs
forests
Evergreen Surface fuels
Open Coniferous Surface fuels
Dense forests Grasses
Coniferous Transitional
Scrub
forests
Deciduous
Open Coniferous Groundfuels Ground fuels
Dense forests
Azonicfuels Otherfuels
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3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

8. JRC fuel type classification scheme
Basic JRC fuel Basic JRC fuel
Detailed JRC fuel type classes Detailed JRC fuel type classes
type classes type classes
Coniferous Mediterranean long needled conifer forest
forest (mediterranean pines)
Mediterranean scale-needled open woodlands (juniperus,
Peatbogs cupressus)
Mediterranean montane long needled conifer forest
Ground fuels Wooded peatbogs (black and scots pines)
Mediterranean montane short needled conifer forest
Pastures (firs, cedar)
Sparse grasslands Alpine long needled conifer forest (pines)
Mediterranean grasslands and steppes Alpine short needled conifer forest (fir, alp. spruce)
Temperate, Alpine and Northern grasslands Northern long needled conifer forest (scots pine)
Mediterranean moors and heathlands Northern short needled conifer forest (spruce)
Temperate, Alpine and Northern moors and Broadleaved Mediterranean evergreen broadleaved forest
heathlands forest
Mediterranean open shrublands (sclerophylous) Thermophilousbroadleavedforest
Mediterranean shrublands (sclerophylous) Mesophytic broadleaved forest
Deciduousbroadleavedshrublands (thermophilous) Beech forest
Surface fuels Alpineopenshrublands (conifers) Montane beech forest
Transitional Shrublands in Mediterranean conifer forests White birch boreal forest
forest Shrublands in Mediterranean sclerophylous forests Mixedforest Mixed Mediterranean evergreen broadleaved with
conifers forest
Shrublands in Mediterranean montane conifer forests Mixed thermophilous broadleaved with conifers forest
Shrublands in thermophilous broadleaved forests Mixed mesophytic broadleaved with conifers forest
Shrublands in beech and mesophytic broadleaved Mixed beech with conifers forest
forests
Northern open shrublands in broadleaved forests Plantations Central conifer forests (conifer plantations of central
Europe)
Shrublands in Alpine and Northern conifer forests Otherfuels Riparian vegetation
Coastal and inland halophytic vegetation and dunes
Aquatic Marshes
Agroforestry areas
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3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

9. Mapping the main fuel classes
Majority rule 0.5 50X50 m
Broadleaved 25X25m
Conifers
Extraction of vegetation types from the JRC forest type map and re-sampling from 25m to 50m
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3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

10. Mapping Surface and Other fuels classes
Azonic and ground fuels
Information extracted from CLC2000
Surface fuels.
Information extracted from Fuelmap masking main and
other fuels
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3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

11. Multitemporal analysis of EO data
Landsat 7ETM for winter season (left) and Landsat 5 TM for summer season (right)
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3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

12. ArcFuel Greek pilot area
Delineation of the Greek pilot area
Aristotle University’s Forest
Pilot area (winter time in left and summer time in right)
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3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

13. NDVI values calculation
NDVI calculation for both images with the clouds and shadows masked
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3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

14. NDVI Difference
The subtracted NDVI image defining the boundary of forests (left) and forest areas (right).
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3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

15. Fuel classification based on NDVI difference
Mapping of Deciduous (yellow) and Evergreen (green) vegetation in the left image and
Shrubs (brown) / Grasses (white) in the right image
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3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

16. Combined forest fuel classes
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3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

17. Classification including density ranges
Evergreen Broadleaved Scrub
1
forest
2 Evergreen Broadleaved open forest
Evergreen Broadleaved Dense
3
forest
Deciduous Broadleaved Scrub
4
forest
Deciduous Broadleaved open
5
forest
Deciduous Broadleaved Dense
6
forest
7 Evergreen Coniferous Scrub forest
8 Evergreen Coniferous open forest
9 Evergreen Coniferous Dense forest
10 Deciduous Coniferous Scrub forest
11 Deciduous Coniferous open forest
12 Deciduous Coniferous Dense forest
13 Evergreen Mixed Scrub forest
14 Evergreen Mixed open forest
15 Evergreen Mixed Dense forest
16 Deciduous Mixed Scrub forest
Transitional (Scrub) forest: 0- 10%, 17 Deciduous Mixed open forest
Open forest: 10-40% 18 Deciduous Mixed Dense forest
Dense forest: 40-100%
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3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

18. ArcFuel
1 Evergreen Broadleaved Scrub forest forest fuel map
2 Evergreen Broadleaved open forest
3 Evergreen Broadleaved Dense forest
4 Deciduous Broadleaved Scrub forest
5 Deciduous Broadleaved open forest
6 Deciduous Broadleaved Dense forest
7 Evergreen Coniferous Scrub forest
8 Evergreen Coniferous open forest
9 Evergreen Coniferous Dense forest
10 Deciduous Coniferous Scrub forest
11 Deciduous Coniferous open forest
12 Deciduous Coniferous Dense forest
13 Evergreen Mixed Scrub forest
14 Evergreen Mixed open forest
15 Evergreen Mixed Dense forest
16 Deciduous Mixed Scrub forest
17 Deciduous Mixed open forest
18 Deciduous Mixed Dense forest
19 Shrubs
20 Grasses
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3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

19. Forest fuels list creation
3 fuels 6 fuels 18 fuels 20 fuels 22 fuels
Deciduous Evergreen Scrub Grass Ground
Mixed Deciduous Open Shrubs Azonic
Broadleaved Close
Environmental zone Environmental zone
+ (Ecoregion)
1 Alpine North
2 Boreal
3 Nemoral
8
9
10
(Ecoregion)
Pannonic – Pontic
Lusitanian
Anatolian
4 Atlantic North 11 Mediterranean Mountain
5 Alpine South 12 Mediterranean North
6 Continental 13 Mediterranean South
7 Atlantic Central 14 Mediterranean East
15 Black sea
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3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

20. Conclusions
The proposed methodology of ArcFuel is still being developed and modified. Tests in the
Greek pilot area provided good results so far
It will be tested and validated in context of the ArcFuel project in pilot areas in Greece, Spain,
Italy and Portugal.
Accuracy, efficiency and consistency of the methodology applied in large geographic areas
will be tested
The proposed approach can provide a semi-automatic production chain of forest fuel maps in
EU countries
The ArcFuel map production chain can provide accurate and reliable maps for all EU countries
at spatial resolution of 50 m, based primarily on existing spatial datasets
The ArcFuel maps can be available for operational use with forest fire behavior applications
and fire simulators in frame of modern forest fire management organization
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3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK

21. Thank you
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3rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Forest Fires
22 – 24 May, 2012, New Forest, UK