Understanding the Impact of Desertification Progress on the Spread of Landscape Fires in the Stavropol Region

Abstract

The satellite imagery of the eastern part of the Stavropol region (Russia) was processed and analyzed for the spatial and temporal spread of fires, both landscape and field ones, and open sand massifs. Moisture distribution, anthropogenic transformation of the territory, climatic trends, and livestock dynamics were assessed. The agricultural and climatic zones were considered to reconstruct the fire dynamics. No direct relationship was revealed between landscape fire progression and desertification site development. While the advance of open sands naturally prevents the spread of fires, it also contributes to a decrease in the population of large and small livestock. This, in turn, leads to an accumulation of the mortmass and results in a higher fire risk. Our findings show that the areas of open sands increased more than 20-fold from 2013 to 2022, while landscape and field fires tended to become less extensive.