Geoecological susceptibility mapping of wildfires in Pedra Branca massif, Rio de Janeiro city

Abstract

The city of Rio de Janeiro has two different relief compartments, the coastal massives and flood plain areas. One of these is the Pedra Branca massif, with 197.27 Km², situated in the western part of the municipality, between 22º 55' and 23º 05' S and 43º 20'and 43º 40' W. Pedra Branca has suffered forest fires frequently over its history, which is one of the main actors of its changing landuse. The aim of this paper is to develop a susceptibility map of fires occurrence in the Pedra Branca massif / RJ, using a geoecological approach. For this purpose, several layers of functional and structures as shape in 1:10.000 scale, Digital Elevation Model (DEM), aspect, geomorphology and solar radiation was introduced through an analytical-integrative approach. All maps were 1:10.000 catastral maps from Pereira Passos Institute - IPP. The landuse was interpreted from 18 orthophotos in the same scale. Two geoecological susceptibility maps of fire, which show the susceptibility areas to fire occurrence in the Pedra Branca Massif have been generated. These maps were validated from the analysis of two burned areas identified, where the best adjusted map recognizes 93.8% of areas to fire. The susceptibility map developed presents susceptible fires areas and is expected to be used in strategic planning to combat wildfires.