Dynamics of fire foci in the Climatic Mesoregions of the State of Alagoas

Abstract

Fires occur due to anthropic actions and cause socio-environmental problems in Northeast Brazil (NEB). Therefore, this study evaluated the spatiotemporal variability of fire focis (FF) in the three climatic mesoregions of Alagoas: Arid Zone, East and Hinterland Alagoano. FF data were obtained from the Queimadas Database (BDQueimadas) between 1998-2020. The FF time series was submitted to descriptive, exploratory, and multivariate statistical analysis applied to 102 municipalities in Alagoas. Based on the hierarchical grouping, three homogeneous groups were identified (G1, G2 and G3) in the Arid Zone and two homogeneous groups of FF in the Hinterland and East Alagoas (G1 and G2). Some municipalities did not form groups (NA), such as: Belo Monte (26.83 ± 25.87 foci), Limoeiro de Anadia (54.48 ± 38.65 foci), Penedo (262.83 ± 183.80 foci) and Coruripe (553 ± 369.40 foci). The interannual FF variability in Alagoas is associated with agricultural activities, deforestation, new areas for animal husbandry and sugarcane harvest. In the spatial evaluation via FF density per municipality, the total period (1998-2020) and the years highlighted in the time series (2012 and 2019) were used. The highest FF density record in the total period is found in the East Alagoas mesoregion and it is not ruled out that the highlighted years are influenced by the occurrence of drought and dry periods in Alagoas.

Keywords
fires; burned areas; multivariate analysis; drought; urbanization