Relationship between Lightning, Lightning Fire and Human Activities

Lightning is the main source of natural fire, and lightning fire and other types of forest fires together constitute the global forest fire system. It is generally believed that lightning fire, as a natural fire source, has nothing to do with human beings and is different from man-made fire sources, but in fact, human activities have inextricable links with the occurrence of lightning fire. Since 2019, due to the severe impact of COVID-19 lockdowns, non-essential activities and mobility have decreased, which has led to a significant decrease in pollutant concentrations and lightning. In this paper, we linked the lightning fire with modernization process of human beings, the expansion of habitation, the change of underlying surface, the development of prediction technology and firefighting technology, and the laws and regulations of the country, to explore the impact of human activities on the occurrences of lightning and the forest lightning fire. Lightning is the fire source of the three elements in lightning fire occurrence, the lightning that can cause lightning fire is mainly cloud-to-ground lightning. The human activities in recent decades have profoundly affected the content of aerosols in environment. Aerosols are the main factors affecting lightning, and the large amount of pollution aerosols emitted from urban areas, soot aerosols emitted from biomass combustion and urban heat island effect have all increased the probability of lightning occurrence. The average annual ground lightning density of different land cover types is obviously different, and the construction land has the highest average annual ground lightning density. Intense lightning in forest areas has a higher density and slope. Most of the forests are located in high altitude areas, which is consistent with previous studies showing high lightning frequency in high altitude areas. The lightning in forests is intenser, steeper and more destructive, so forest areas are prone to lightning strikes. Lightning has the characteristic of selective discharge, that is, it will discharge into some special areas, which are also known as lightning selection areas, such as the place groundwater is exposed to the ground, where different conductive soils are connected, and where there are underground metal mines, such as copper and iron mines, and underground lake and water reservoir areas. Lightning strikes are caused by changes in soil conductivity caused by human activities such as mining waste rock sites, reservoir construction on mountain tops, and power transmission lines in mountainous areas. At the same time, due to the abundant trees in the mountainous area, it is also important to avoid the resulting lightning fire. With the development of lightning monitoring technology, a lightning location monitoring system has been established in some areas of China. Especially in 2021, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration launched the "Enlisting and Leading" emergency science and technology project of forest lightning fire prevention and control, and the project team has constructed a lightning fire sensing system in the Daxing'anling region with three-dimensional lightning full-wave detection network as the main body, covering the forest area of the Daxing'anling forest region, which can accurately locate the location of cloud-to-ground lightning in real time, improve the monitoring and warning ability of lightning fires, and improve the efficiency of lightning fire discovery. National laws and regulations indirectly affect lightning fires by affecting forest cover and climate change. This paper is expected to provide reference for the occurrence, prevention and control of forest lightning fire in the future, and provide a basis for the formulation of corresponding policies.

Impacts of Wildfire Smoke and Air Pollution on a Pediatric Population with Asthma: A Population-Based Study.

Wildfires are increasing yearly in number and severity as a part of the evolving climate crisis. These fires are a significant source of air pollution, a common driver of flares in cardiorespiratory disease, including asthma, which is the most common chronic disease of childhood. Poorly controlled asthma leads to significant societal costs through morbidity, mortality, lost school and work time and healthcare utilization. This retrospective cohort study set in Calgary, Canada evaluates the relationship between asthma exacerbations during wildfire smoke events and equivalent low-pollution periods in a pediatric asthma population. Air pollution was based on daily average levels of PM2.5. Wildfire smoke events were determined by combining information from provincial databases and local monitors. Exposures were assumed using postal codes in the health record at the time of emergency department visits. Provincial claims data identified 27,501 asthma exacerbations in 57,375 children with asthma between 2010 to 2021. Wildfire smoke days demonstrated an increase in asthma exacerbations over the baseline (incidence rate ratio: 1.13; 95% CI: 1.02-1.24); this was not seen with air pollution in general. Increased rates of asthma exacerbations were also noted yearly in September. Asthma exacerbations were significantly decreased during periods of COVID-19 healthcare precautions.

Text Mining Approach for Trend Tracking in Scientific Research: A Case Study on Forest Fire

Scientific studies are increasing day by day with the development of technology. Today, more than 171 billion academic records are made available to researchers via the Web of Science database, which is frequently followed by the scientific community, and is where records of articles, proceedings, and books in many different fields are kept. More than 40 thousand studies are reached when a search is made for research on forest fires in the relevant database. It is unfeasible to examine and read so many publications and understand what topics are important in the relevant field, what is trending, or whether there is a difference between the subjects studied based on years and/or regions/countries. The most effective and scientific method of deriving information from such large and unstructured data is text mining. In this study, text mining is used to reveal where the research on forest fires in the Web of Science database concentrates, which study topics have emerged, how an issue's level of importance changes over the years, and which topics different countries focus on. Therefore, the s of approximately 32 thousand articles published in English were collected and analyzed based on the country of the authors and the published years. Over 600 words in the s were indexed for each article and their importance was calculated according to inverse document frequency. A size reduction was made to determine the main concepts of the articles by using the singular value decomposition and a total of 29 different concepts were found. Among these, important concepts can be mentioned such as damage to vegetation and species affected, post-fire actions, fire management, and post-fire structural changes. Considering all the articles, studies on soil, fuel (biofuel), treatment, emissions, and species were found to be important. The results we have obtained in this study are by no means a summary of the research carried out in the field;they do, however, allow statistical due diligence concerning, for example, which subjects are important in the relevant field, the determination of increasing and decreasing trending topics, which countries attach importance to in the same research, and so on. Thus, it will function as be a guide in terms of the direction, timing, and budget allocation of research plans in a specific area in the future.

Risk Management in the Healthcare Facilities: Case Study

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the whole world, and we can classify it as a significant disaster in modern history. However, not only a pandemic is the unique disaster that has hit the earth. Due to the increased attention to the pandemic, spent not much attention on the other disasters. There have been forest fires in Australia, floods in Indonesia, volcano eruption in the Philippines, and others in 2020. Several disasters are causing cascading effects that may affect different sectors. Fires or floods are just one of them. The cascade effect can endanger several elements of critical infrastructure, such as the energy sector and healthcare. In healthcare facilities, patients are dependent on electricity supplies. It is therefore essential that the proper functioning of healthcare facilities is maintained. The aim of the paper is to highlight the growing trend in the number of disasters around the world and draw attention to the preparedness of healthcare facilities to solve these disasters. Based on the analysis, we can take the information that there is a big difference in the preparedness of the healthcare facilities to solve a power outage. © 2021 The Authors.

Records of cancelled spring burning of semi-natural grasslands in Japan due to the COVID-19 in 2020

Since the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 is raging around the world. Some of areas in Japan have cancelled spring burning of semi-natural grasslands to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Because records of the impact of the infection on grassland management are considered important, I have documented the information found on the internet about cancelled spring burning related to COVID-19. From late February to mid-May 2020, I searched for any combination of keywords including "Hiire", "Noyaki", "Yamayaki", "Yoshiyaki" (These four words mean "burning" in Japanese.), "corona", and "cancelled" using Google and social networking sites (e.g. Twitter and Facebook) to gather information about cancelled burning due to COVID-19. As a result, I found that burning was cancelled in 18 grasslands in 14 prefectures, and carried out with restrictions in four grasslands in four prefectures in Japan. These cancellation of spring burnings of semi-natural grassland by COVID-19 could affect biodiversity of grasslands and the safe burning of the following year and beyond.

Bio-monitoring of atmospheric heavy metal pollution of major emergency events using moss bags:a case study in Xichang

In order to trace and monitor the atmospheric heavy metal pollution in Xichang City, an investigation activity was carried out with a sort of moss (Taxiphyllum taxirameum) (packed in moss bags) as a biological indicator for monitoring heavy metal pollution. The investigation was conducted from the period from April 2019 to April 2020, during which two grave emergency events occurred during spring monitoring period from January 15 to April 15, 2020, i.e., COVID-19 and "3.30"severe forest fire in Xichang, which inevitably affected the atmospheric quality. Based on the concentration analysis of 12 kinds of heavy metal, including Al, Cr, Fe, Cu, Ni, Pb, Mn, Hg, Zn, V, As and Ba contained in the moss and the local meteorological data, comparing those informative data before and after the time when the emergency events toke place, the paper made an analysis on the impacts of two enormous emergency events on the air pollution of heavy metal in Xichang. The results showed that total amount of enrichment of above-mentioned 12 heavy metals in spring (January 15 to April 15, 2020) is (12.85 +or- 1.57) mg/g, which was significantly higher than in the other three seasons (p < 0.01), but no significant discrepancies about the total enrichment amount in the other three seasons (p > 0.05). Primarily because of COVID-19 pandemic, the level of motor vehicles emissions cut down, and the decrease of the tourism in the related areas perhaps causing the decline of pollution of Pb. In addition, the decrease of unbalanced emission of pollutants led to a noted increase of atmospheric oxidation in urban area, thus boosting the formation of secondary particulate matter, and the particulate matter from surrounding industrial sources was transported into the urban area;as a result, remarkable increases of Hg concentration of moss within the moss bags were detected downwind the industrial area located in the urban fringe. Consequently, the investigation showed that the moss-bag method is an effective biological tool for monitoring air heavy metal pollution, which could reflect the impacts of major pollution events on air quality.

Forest fires and impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns on air quality in four Latin American megacities

Latin America, as other regions in the world, imposed mobility restrictions to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. Although recent research has analyzed the effect of mobility restrictions on air quality in several regions, a scarce literature explores the causal effects of the lockdowns in Latin America at a city scale whose results may guide local policymaking. This article, based on a quasi-experimental approach, estimates the causal short-term impacts of lockdowns on air quality considering the influence of forest fires on pollution in four megacities in Latin America (Bogotá, Mexico City, Santiago, and Sao Paulo). Results show that nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide consistently declined (from 16% to 68%), nevertheless, fine particles rarely decreased across cities. Only Bogotá exhibited an overall reduction in fine particles (45% for PM2.5). Mexico City obtained the lowest reduction in pollutants, whereas Bogotá outperformed other cities in several pollutants. Evidence from mobility statistics supports the decrease in air pollution by a reduction in driving, transit use, and other mobility indicators.

Estimation of willingness to pay for public benefit evaluation of forest roads in recreational forests

The purpose of this research is to analyze recreational forest visitors' behavior and to estimate public benefit from forest roads, which play various and positive roles, such as open green space, timber production, forest management, and forest fire prevention. A DBCV (double bounded contingent valuation) onsite survey was conducted nationwide from July 20th~August 7th in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis result of 500 respondents proves that the improvement of accessibility for forest users and the provision of recreation opportunities and recreational facilities through forest road development (both in quality and quantity) substantially affects forest users' economic welfare in recreational forests (RF). Also, the survey result shows 4.6 visits within 3 years for forest scenery and refreshment with family. About 60% of the respondents recognize the importance of forest roads within recreational forests and about 80% represent a positive response to the contribution of recreational forest roads. The WTP (willingness to pay) of the respondents through the logit model applied is estimated at KRW 1,803.04 per person/visit for a year and the result of benefit expansion based on the WTP estimation is calculated to be KRW 43.24 billion. Hence, the result shows that increasing forest road quality and quantity within the RF contributes to forest users' economic welfare in terms of forest recreational satisfaction. It will be the fundamental data on economic analysis related to forest-road construction plans and forest policies reflecting the increasing demand of consumers based on their preference.

PINE (PINUS ROXBURGHII) CAN BOOST GREEN ECONOMY POST COVID-19 IN THE HIMALAYAN STATES

This article describes how Pine (Pinus roxburghii) tree products can create opportunities for a green and inclusive economic recovery in Himalayan states hit by COVID - 19 pandemic, where Pine trees grow in abundance. A Pine based green economy can enhance the livelihood opportunities of the poor people and enhance the resilience of state economies and societies in the face of severe recession and bring about reduction in degradation of forests and prevent forest fires.

Oregon 2020-21: Budgeting During COVID

Oregon in 2020 and 2021 resembled other Western states: crisis on crisis. COVID, the COVID recession, forest fires and ice storms, and polarized politics dominated the news. Despite these challenges, the state's fiscal situation turned out very positively. President Biden's American Rescue Plan and the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed in November 2021 provided many billions to the state for 2021 and will cover diverse infrastructure needs over the next five years. This paper analyzes the surprisingly strong general fund and federal fund situations created by the COVID era and considers the political implications of the state's fiscal situation.

The estimated total area of forest fire in Siak Regency, Riau Province during the early period of COVID-19 outbreak

Forest fires in Indonesia are more prominently caused by human factors rather than natural factors. In 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak resulted in social distancing policies which leads to the restriction and limitation of human activities. This research aims to compare the forest fire areas and the number of cases between the early period of the COVID-19 outbreak and the normal period before the outbreak. In this research, we used Sentinel-2 images for further analysis through visual method and Normalized Burn Ratio method. Additionally, the ground check was also carried out in the burnt area. The estimation based on the visual analysis resulted in a total burnt area of 459.71 ha with 4 counts of cases. While based on the NBR result, it was 302.79 ha. For comparison, during the same period in 2019 in the same focus research area, there are 7 forest fire cases with a total burnt area of 1,236.80 ha. These results indicate that in terms of total burnt area and count of cases, there are fewer burnt areas in 2020 compared to the burnt areas in 2019. In conclusion, restrictions on human activity are suspected to be the cause of the reduced area of the fire.

Learnings from COVID-19 Forced Lockdown on Regional Air Quality and Mitigation Potential for South Asia

South Asia is a hotspot of air pollution with limited resilience and hence, understanding the mitigation potential of different sources is critically important. In this context the country lockdown initiated to combat the COVID-19 pandemic (during March and April 2020 that is the pre-monsoon season) provides an unique opportunity for studying the relative impacts of different emission sources in the region. Here, we analyze changes in levels of air quality species across the region during selected lockdown periods using satellite and in-situ datasets. This analysis compares air quality levels during the lockdown against pre-lockdown conditions as well as against regional long-term mean. Satellite derived AOD, NO2, and CO data indicates an increase of 9.5%, 2%, and 2.6%, respectively, during the 2020 lockdown period compared to pre-lockdown over the South Asia domain. However, individual country statistics, urban site data, and industrial grid analysis within the region indicate a more varied picture. Cities with high traffic loads reported a reduction of 12–39% in columnar NO2 during lockdown, in-situ PM2.5 measurements indicate a 23–56% percent reduction over the country capitals and columnar SO2 has an approximate reduction of 50% over industrial areas. In contrast, pollutant emissions from natural sources e.g., from biomass burning were observed to be adversely affecting the air quality in this period potentially masking expected lockdown related air quality improvements. This study demonstrates the need for a more nuanced and situation specific understanding of sources of air pollutants (anthropogenic and natural) and for these sources to be better understood from the local to the regional scale. Without this deeper understanding, mitigation strategies cannot be effectively targeted, wasting limited resources as well as risking unintended consequences both for the atmosphere and how mitigation action is perceived by the wider public. © The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are cited.

Dutch wildcats celebration

[...]we are like an oiled Swiss Army knife, which has proven its added value over the years, and is quickly available when called upon". The 'Cougars' of 300 squadron also deployed to Afghanistan several times during 2006 to 2010 Operations took place out of Kandahar Airfield in support of the Task Force Uruzgan. Besides a transport role of supplies also missions to support Special Operations Forces (SOF) where executed. 300 Squadron also supports humanitarian missions like fighting forest fires (Fire Bucket Operations - FBO), in 2004 the squadron deployed two Cougars to Portugal, and in August 2007 towards Greece to support the firefighting there. For these amphibious overseas missions six Cougars (serials S-419, 441, 442, 445 and 447) are available with maritime equipment like floats to prevent the helicopter from sinking when it comes in the water. [...]2015, the squadron was tasked as Patients transport (Air Ambulance) from the Wadden Islands, which are located in the upper north of the Netherlands in the Wadden Sea, to hospitals on the mainland. According to 1st Lieutenant Niels Henderson, Chief Helicopter Maintenance of 300 squadron, this is a unique opportunity.

GLOBAL NEWS

SAHARA J. 2021;18(1):77-85. https://doi.org/10.1080/17290376.2021.1909492 Cognitive Function of Children Living in Forest Fire-Prone Provinces Seasonal forest fires that occur on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan can produce high concentrations of ambient particulate matter of less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5). Using data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey, Jalaludin et al. determined whether exposure to PM2.5 is associated with children's cognitive function (assessed through Ravens Colored Progressive Matrices;RCPM) and whether cognitive function differed in children who have always lived in forest fire-prone provinces compared to children who have always lived in provinces not prone to forest fires. Using multilevel mixed linear regression models, Jalaludin et al. found a small positive association between PM2.5 exposure and RCPM scores (b = 0.1%;95% confi dence interval [CI] = 0.01%, 0.19%) and lower RCPM scores for children who had lived in a forest fi re-prone province all their lives (b = -1.50%;95% CI = -2.94, -0.07) after adjusting for individual factors.

Atmospheric Methane Condition over the South Sumatera Peatland during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Recent anthropogenic activities have degraded peatlands, the largest natural reservoir of soil carbon, thereby reducing their carbon uptake from the atmosphere. As one of the primary sources of methane (CH4) emissions in terrestrial ecosystems, peatlands also contribute to atmospheric greenhouse gases. During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Indonesia implemented a lockdown referred to as large-scale social restrictions (LSSR) in areas with high case numbers. To evaluate the effects of anthropogenic activity on peatlands, we investigated the CH4 concentrations in the atmosphere above the tropical peatlands of the Indonesian province South Sumatra before the LSSR (March 2020), during the LSSR (May 2020), and during the corresponding months of the previous year (March and May 2019). Using satellite-retrieved data from NASA, viz., the CH4 concentration and gross primary production (GPP) measured by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on board Aqua and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board Terra, respectively, we discovered a decrease of approximately 5.5% in the mean CH4 concentration (which averaged 1.73 ppm across the periods prior to lockdown) as well as an increase in the GPP (which ranged from 53.3 to 63.9 g C m–2 day–1 during the lockdown, indicating high atmospheric carbon intake) during the LSSR. Thus, the restrictions during lockdown, which reduced anthropogenic activities, such as land use conversion and biomass burning, and related events, such as peatland and forest fires, significantly influenced the level of atmospheric CH4 above the peatlands in Indonesia.

Risk Mitigation, Vulnerability Management, and Resilience under Disasters

Development has been associated with positive economic expectations, income increases, and improved habitation opportunities [4]. [...]spontaneous spatial development and statutory planning follow social aspirations that may even be hazardous to develop privileged but sensitive and/or hazardous environments (e.g., coastal zones, riverbanks, peri-urban forest land, etc.). [...]activation of both the public and private sector for vulnerability management and resilience-building necessitates sufficient knowledge on the part of the respective actors: what are the major local hazards? The authors criticized the obsession of the Greek state with the fire-suppression component/stage of the forest fire risk management cycle by referring to the metaphor “the fire-fighting trap” as a quick fix (rather than a long-term management strategy), inducing negative, unintended consequences. [...]the authors emphasized that the risk-communication strategies should be tailored to the at-risk communities’ skills, habits, norms, beliefs, and risk culture.

Covid-19 and Air Pollution Impacts at the Beginning of 'Confinement' in Paraguay

In December 2019 the world was informed of the first infections with the SARS-COV2 virus, and the crisis spread rapidly, producing a pandemic of the coronavirus disease-causing crises in health, economy, and society. Paraguay decreed strict containment, which was the most urgent and rapid response to the scourge, to minimize the rapid spread of the disease's contagion, all activities were paralyzed, but satellites continued to exploit data that could reveal connections between the pandemic and the environment. This research focused on the years 2019 to 2021, beginning of the confinement, in certain cities of the country, observing some atmospheric parameters. In 2021, the Paraguayan Chaco had 117,142 fire outbreaks and the Eastern region had 155,402. Fires are the emitters of NOx gases and aerosols to the atmosphere, knowing their distribution is very important because they are the precursors of ozone, a very harmful gas to human health, as well as aerosols. The importance of this lies in the fact that Paraguay has several populations considered vulnerable because they are located in the vicinity of the major recurrent fires in July to September, which with climate change and the outbreak of the pandemic increase the health crisis, which warrants this work. © 2021 IEEE.

COVID-19 and agricultural fire pollution in the Amazon: puzzles and solutions. (Special Section: Pandemics and sustainability.)

In the Amazon, the quick spread of COVID-19 coincides with the high level of air pollution released during the "burning season", when thousands of square kilometres are prepared for agriculture. Mitigating health consequences by constraining fire use and social interaction is hindered by the dependence of local food security on fires, of enforcement on on-the-ground surveillance and of primary care on home visits. Based on fieldwork experience, alternatives to test potential solutions to the policy puzzles are proposed, highlighting the role of smallholder mechanization and of community health workers (CHWs). It is argued that randomized control trials could be designed to assess the effectiveness of tractor scheduling workshops, grassroots-based tractor administration, mobile-health-aided data collection by CHWs and data-driven algorithms to plan their home visits. The need for researcher-practitioner collaboration for optimized targeting of on-the-ground illegal fire deterrence is also stressed. The trials and the potential solutions to be trialled are more likely to be successful whether integrated into a broader and perennial process of research and development of interventions for sustainable development of the Amazon, whose need was widely revealed by the ongoing pandemic.

Jedi ops over Sicily

The military-civilian SAR duties of 82nd squadron includes regular cooperation with the mountain rescue unit CNSAS, the police and the firefighting forces of Vigili del Fuoco. Since 2018, the unit is also equipped with water-bambi buckets to assist with forest fires. The region around Trapani air base is an ideal for these purposes, not only for sea ops training, but also the rough Sicilian mountainous landscape is perfect to practice in a wide variety of circumstances", Capt Conforti informed us. When needed the HH-139 can be made available to transfer patients between hospitals, with a supplementary bio-containment cradle, the patient was isolated to secure a safe working area for the crew.

Reflections on india's Vokrant centric Carrier Battle Group by

On the very next day (9 August 2021) Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, personally chaired a High Level Open Debate at the UN Security Council, on the theme "Enhancing Maritime Security: A case for International Cooperation", emphatically bringing "Maritime India" to the front and centre of the global maritime discourse and dominating India's eighth rotational membership of this apex intergovernmental organisation.2 The additional fact that this demonstration of Indian naval capacity and capability has been made in the Swarnim Vijay Varsh commemorating the 50th anniversary of the victory of Indian arms against Pakistan in the 1971 conflict that resulted in the creation of Bangladesh, and, given that it has been almost in tandem with India's record medal haul in the Tokyo Olympics (23 July to 8 August 2021), the voyage of the Vikrant has certainly added to the series of adrenaline spikes and generated a palpable surge of nationalistic pride. [...]the need to prevent 'hope' from being stifled by 'hype' is more urgent than ever before. Unfortunately, the relentless barrage of social media platforms continues to be characterised by inadequately informed opinions to which members of the lay public are repeatedly subjected. [...]the debate over the relative efficacy of the Indian Navy's carrier-borne airpower versus that of the Indian Air Force supported by replenishment-tanker aircraft rages on, quite like the forest fires that engulf nation-states from time to time. [...]while the criticality of the maritime domain - and that of the military maritime domain is a given, of immediate interest and urgency is the need for answers to the questions of whether aircraft carriers are indeed, quite as central as is being averred by the present Chief of the Naval Staff,5 and whether they do, indeed, provide the biggest bang for our collective buck.