Relations Between Human Factors and Global Fire Activity

Biomass burning is a critical factor to understand both atmospheric and vegetation properties worldwide. Recent changes in global temperatures and socioeconomic transformations have affected traditional fire regimes, thus magnifying the negative effects of fire upon human and ecological values. Most sources recognize the importance of human factors in fire ignition, but few studies have tried to understand human patterns of fire at global scale. This paper addresses some of those factors, by using geographical databases covering the whole planet. Fire occurrence was estimated from a database of hot-spots detected by the MODIS sensor, covering the period from 2001 to 2006. Human factors are proven to be related to fire persistency and seasonality, while fire density patterns are associated to human variables for specific climates and vegetation covers.