Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
techniques used to assess each of these elements. I then go on to examine two pop-
ular computer models that are used to predict how fire will move across landscapes,
and then finish with an exploration of a significant new national level data set that
can be used to work with GIS in Pyrogeography.
3.2 Pyrogeography
Almost every year brings new wildfire events that highlight the tragic ways fire
continues to impact our society. However, over the course of the 20th century,
our scientific understanding of wildland fire changed drastically. Many people no
longer see each fire as a disaster, and we now understand that fire is an essential
element in most terrestrial ecosystems (Bond and Keeley
2005
). Over the last 20
years, a geographical approach to evaluating wildland fire has developed and greatly
improved our ability to understand and differentiate the complexities of fire ecol-
ogy and human interaction with fire. For example, after the Yellowstone fires of
1988 and on into the 1990s developments in remote sensing and GIS allowed many
researchers and analysts to make significant strides in mapping wildland fires as
well as increasing our understanding of the spatial and ecological complexity of fire.
This geographic approach will only continue to develop and be increasingly vital for
improved fire management. A broad collection of these spatial analysis activities in
fire can now be encompassed by the emerging subfield of Pyrogeography.
The term “Pyrogeography” was coined by the University of Arizona's Dr. Steve
Yool and his Geography graduate students in the mid 1990s. For the next few years
Pyrogeography sessions were introduced at the annual meetings of the Association
of American Geographers (AAG), with early sessions sponsored by the AAG
Biogeography Specialty Group, and later sessions co-sponsored by the Remote
Sensing and GIS specialty groups. In recent years, the term Pyrogeography has
began to surface in many professional and academic meetings, and even in the titles
of courses taught at several universities. Some wildland fire professionals are even
beginning to use it in their job titles.
Pyrogeography asks questions about the spatial distribution of fire. These ques-
tions go far beyond simply what burned or how hot it burned. Rather, Pyrogeography
helps us understand the complex interactions between fire and all that interacts with
it, and fire interacts with almost everything. Even oceanic chemistry and Antarctic
climate are affected by the atmospheric byproducts of wildland fires. Nearly all
terrestrial life intersects with fire at some point in its life history, and fire is a per-
vasive element in the evolution and distribution of almost all land plants and even
animals. In essence, Pyrogeography examines the spatial and temporal patterns of
fire. However, this simple description fails to encompass all the nuances or even the
underlying assumptions and complexity of Geography itself.
Geography, like History, is both a disciplinary approach and a set of organizing
principles that helps us make sense of our world. As a discipline, History begins
with the notion that time matters, and that understanding a sequence of events can
help us understand those events. This construct encompasses the simple notion that
