Package fireDanger

July 23, 2013

Depends R(>= 2.10.0)

Type Package

Title A set of popular indices for fire-climate risk assessment

Version 1.0

Date 2013-07-11

Author Joaquin Bedia, with contributions of Sixto Herrera and Maialen Iturbide

Maintainer <joaquin.bedia@gmail.com>

Description Provides functions for the calculation of several popular indices for fire risk assess-
ment based on meteorological data.

License GPL-2

R topics documented:
fireDanger-package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
angstronIndex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
calibrateProj . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
fmi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
fwi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
fwiSpain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
hsPET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
kbdi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
meteoSpain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
nesterovIndex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Index 17

1
2 angstronIndex

fireDanger-package Functions for meteorological fire risk assessment

Description
The package contains implementations of several popular fire danger indices widely applied in many
areas of the world. In addition, two functions for the estimation of potential evapotranspiration and
climate model output calibration respectively are included. This package is intended as a companion
of the PhD thesis of the author.

Author(s)
Joaquin Bedia, with contributions of Sixto Herrera and Maialen Iturbide
Santander Meteorology Group (http://www.meteo.unican.es)
Maintainer: Joaquin Bedia <bediaj@unican.es>

References
J. Bedia, S. Herrera, J.M. Gutierrez, G. Zavala, I. R. Urbieta and J.M. Moreno (2012). Sensitivity
of Fire Weather Index to different reanalysis products in the Iberian Peninsula. Nat. Hazards Earth
Syst. Sci., 12, 699-708. URL: http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/12/699/2012/
nhess-12-699-2012.html
S. Herrera, J. Bedia, J. M. Gutierrez, J. Fernandez and J. M. Moreno. On the projection of future
fire danger conditions with various instantaneous/mean-daily data sources (2013) Climatic Change,
118, 827-840. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10584-012-0667-2
J. Bedia, S. Herrera, D. San Martin, N. Koutsias and J. M. Gutierrez (2013) Robust projections
of Fire Weather Index in the Mediterranean using statistical downscaling. Climatic Change. DOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10584-013-0787-3

angstronIndex Computation of the Swedish Angstron Drought Index

Description
The function computes Angstron Index from daily time series of temperature and relative humidity.

Usage
angstronIndex(t, rh)

Arguments
t A numeric vector of temperature records, in degree C
rh A numeric vector of relative humidity records, in %
angstronIndex 3

Details
The function will not compute days with missing values for any of the input variables, and will
jump to the next day with all complete records.

Value
A numeric vector with the values of the index

Note
The Angstrom Index is useful only as an indication of the dryness of the air. It does not account for
fuel moisture status or the effect of wind. The resulting values are categorized as follows:
AI > 4.0 Fire occurrence unlikely
4.0 < AI < 2.5 Fire conditions unfavorable
2.5 < AI < 2.0 Fire conditions favorable
AI < 2.0 Fire occurrence very likely

Author(s)
J. Bedia

References
Willis, C., van Wilgem, B., Tolhurst, K., Everson, C., DAbreton, P., Pero, L. and Fleming, G.
(2001). The development of a national fire danger rating system for South Africa. Department of
Water affairs and Forestry, Pretoria, South Africa.

Examples
data(fwiSpain)

ai <- angstronIndex(t=fwiSpain$observed$Salamanca$T,
rh=fwiSpain$observed$Salamanca$H)
par(mfrow=c(3,1))
plot(fwiSpain$observed$Salamanca$fecha, fwiSpain$observed$Salamanca$T,
ty=l, main = "temperature")
plot(fwiSpain$observed$Salamanca$fecha, fwiSpain$observed$Salamanca$H,
ty=l, main = "relHumidity")
plot(fwiSpain$observed$Salamanca$fecha, ai, ty=l,
main = "Swedish Angstron drought Index")

# Classification into the standard risk classes

abline(h = c(2,2.5,4), lty = 2)
riskClasses <- findInterval(ai, c(2,2.5,4))
riskCols <- c("red","orange","yellow","green")
for (i in 1:length(sort(unique(riskClasses)))) {
ind <- which(riskClasses == sort(unique(riskClasses))[i])
points(fwiSpain$observed$Salamanca$fecha[ind], ai[ind], col = riskCols[i])
}
4 calibrateProj

legend("topleft", c("likely", "favourable", "unfavourable", "unlikely"),

col = riskCols, pch=21, title="Fire occurrence probability")
# End

calibrateProj Calibration of RCM/GCM projections

Description
The function performs calibration (often also referred to as "bias correction") of model simulations
using as reference a given dataset. Currently three types of calibration are supported: correction
of the mean (i.e. bias correction sensu stricto), correction of the distribution quantile by quan-
tile (quantile-quantile mapping) and a hybrid technique that performs quantile-quantile adjustment
considering both distribution and means (quantile quantile adjustment).

Usage
calibrateProj(obs, pred, sim, method = c("qqadj", "qqmap", "delta", "unbiasing"),
varcode = c("tas", "hurs", "pr", "wss"), return.par = TRUE,
plot.ecdf = FALSE, pr.threshold = 0.05)

Arguments
obs A time series of observations (or any other dataset used as reference for correc-
tion, e.g. model outputs coupled to reanalysis)
pred A time series of model simulations for the same period than observations
sim A time series of future model simulation (or period to be corrected)
method Character string indicating the type of correction to be done. Currently three
types of correction are supported: qqadj=quantile-quantile adjustment, qqmap=quantile-
quantile mapping, delta=similar to q-q mapping, and unbiasing=bias correc-
tion.
varcode Character string indicating the variable to be corrected. Currently the values
implemented are tas, for temperature, hurs for relative humidity, pr for pre-
cipitation and wss for wind velocity. In practice, the function will only give a
special treatment to temperature and precipitation.
return.par Logical, default to TRUE.
plot.ecdf Optional. Default to FALSE. If set to TRUE the function returns a plot of the CDFs
for the obs, pred, sim and corrected time series.
pr.threshold Only used when varcode = pr. Threshold value below which observed pre-
cipitation values are set to zero. Default to 0.05 (assuming precipitation is in
mm/day).

Details
In practice, the retrieval of parameters g and f only makes sense with the quantile-quantile adjust-
ment method (method = "qqadj"), although note that in the case of temperature, g is constant and
= 1. The nature of these parameters is described in Amengual et al. (2012)
fmi 5

Value
If return.par = FALSE, a numeric vector with the corrected simulated series. If return.par = TRUE,
then a list of parameters is also given:
corr.vals a numeric vector with the corrected simulated series
g Numeric value of the g parameter (see Details)
f Numeric value of the f parameter (see Details)
mean.delta Difference in the mean value between the observed (argument obs) and simu-
lated (pred) series. It gives an indication of model bias magnitude.
out.of.range A list containing details about the percentage of simulated values (as provided
by argument sim) which are above the maximum (Instances above max) or
below (Instances below min) the minimum values of the historical control
run (argument pred).

Author(s)
J. Bedia, borrowing MatLab code from S. Herrera

References
Amengual, A., V. Homar, R. Romero, S. Alonso, C. Ramis, 2012: A Statistical Adjustment of
Regional Climate Model Outputs to Local Scales: Application to Platja de Palma, Spain. J. Climate,
25, 939-957.

Examples
obs <- rnorm(1000)
pred <- rnorm(1000, mean=.5)
sim <- rnorm(1000, mean=.7)
corr <- calibrateProj(obs, pred, sim, "qqadj", return.par = TRUE, plot.ecdf = TRUE)
str(corr)
#End

fmi Computation of the Fuel Moisture Index

Description
Computes the Fuel Moisture Index

Usage
fmi(t, rh)

Arguments
t A numeric vector of temperature records, in degree C
rh A numeric vector of relative humidity records, in %
6 fwi

Value
A numeric vector with the FMI values

Note
Fire moisture index is a dimensionless index and should not be considered as giving a direct esti-
mate of fuel moisture content, as such. However, the question of principle interest was how FMI
compared to the output of more complicated fuel moisture models. This question was answered in
Sharples et al. (2009a) where it was shown that FMI compared remarkably well to the output of
existing models, especially the model for the moisture content of eucalypt litter

Author(s)
J. Bedia

References
Sharples, J.J., McRae, R.H.D., Weber, R.O., Gill, A.M.(2009) A simple index for assessing fuel
moisture content. Environmental Modelling and Software, 24, 637-646.
Sharples, J.J., McRae, R.H.D., Weber, R.O., Gill, A.M.(2009a) A simple index for assessing fire
danger rating. Environmental Modelling and Software. DOI:10.1016/j.envsoft.2008.11.004

See Also
angstronIndex, for a similar code in the sense that both rate air rather than fuel moisture

Examples
data(fwiSpain)
par(mfrow=c(4,2))
for (i in 1:length(fwiSpain$observed)) {
x <- fwiSpain$observed[[i]]
fmi.series <- fmi(t=x$T, rh=x$H)
plot(x$fecha, fmi.series, ty=l, main = names(fwiSpain$observed[i]),
ylim = c(0,35))
}
# End

fwi Computation of the Canadian Fire Weather Index

Description
Computes the Canadian Fire Weather Index System with (optionally) all its components, including
the Daily Severity Rating.
fwi 7

Usage

fwi(date, Tm, H, r, W, return.all = FALSE)

Arguments

date A vector of dates. See details.

Tm A numeric vector of temperature records (in degree C)
H A numeric vector of relative humidity records (in %)
r A numeric vector of precipitation records (in mm)
W A numeric vector of wind speed records (in km/h)
return.all Logical. Should all FWI system components be returned?. If TRUE, a complete
dataframe is returned with all FWI components. Default to FALSE, and in this
case only FWI is returned.

Details

The argument date may include a wide variety of objects coercible to the POSIXlt class, which is
internally used by the function in order to extract the month component. This includes objects of
the other class POSIXct and of classes Date, date (from package date), chron and dates (from
package chron). It is also possible to give unambiguous character strings of the formats "2001-
02-03" and "2001/02/03", optionally followed by white space and a time in the format "14:52" or
"14:52:03", although subdaily information is ignored by the function. Further details in the help
page of as.POSIXlt.
Some climate products (e.g. reanalysis data, see Bedia et al. 2012) may provide negative rainfall
values, relative humidity above 100% and so on... To avoid errors, the function automatically
searches and corrects out-of-range values, giving a warning.
The function will not compute days with missing values for any of the input variables, and will
jump to the next day with all complete records.

Value

If return.all = FALSE, a numeric vector with FWI values. If argument return.all is set to
TRUE, a dataframe is returned, each column corresponding to each component:

FFMC Fine fuel moisture code

DMC Duff moisture code
DC Drought code
ISI Initial spread index
BUI Buildup index
FWI Fire weather index
DSR Daily severity rating
8 fwi

Note
It is important to note the importance of using instantaneous records at noon to compute the FWI
(apart from the last 24h accumulated precipitation values), as defined in the data gathering protocols
(see, e.g. Lawson et al., 2008), as FWI is intended to reflect the danger conditions at the moment of
the day when the risk is generally the highest. With this regard, the use of daily mean values leads
to an underestimation of FWI magnitude eventually yielding erroneous results for percentiles and
frequencies over thresholds, a topic addressed in detail by Herrera et al. (2013).

Author(s)
J. Bedia

References
J. Bedia, S. Herrera, J.M. Gutierrez, G. Zavala, I. R. Urbieta and J.M. Moreno (2012). Sensitivity
of Fire Weather Index to different reanalysis products in the Iberian Peninsula. Nat. Hazards Earth
Syst. Sci., 12, 699-708. URL: http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/12/699/2012/
nhess-12-699-2012.html
S. Herrera, J. Bedia, J. M. Gutierrez, J. Fernandez and J. M. Moreno (2013). On the projection of
future fire danger conditions with various instantaneous/mean-daily data sources. Climatic Change,
118, 827-840. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10584-012-0667-2
Lawson, B. and Armitage, O. (2008). Weather guide for the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating
System. Canadian Forestry Service Tech. Rep. Edmonton, Canada.
van Wagner, C.E. and T.L. Pickett (1985). Equations and FORTRAN program for the Canadian
Forest Fire Weather Index system. Canadian Forestry Service Tech. Rep. 33. Ottawa, Canada.

Examples
data(fwiSpain)

# FWI series at different Spanish locations

par(mfrow=c(4,2))
for (i in 1:length(fwiSpain$observed)) {
x <- fwiSpain$observed[[i]]
fwi.series <- fwi(date = x$fecha, Tm = x$T, H = x$H, r = x$P, W = x$W,
return.all = FALSE)
plot(x$fecha, fwi.series, ty = l, main = names(fwiSpain$observed[i]),
ylim = c(0,75), ylab = "FWI")
}

# FWI system components at Salamanca

x <- fwiSpain$observed$Salamanca
fwi.components <- fwi(date = x$fecha, Tm = x$T, H = x$H, r = x$P, W = x$W,
return.all = TRUE)
par(mfrow=c(4,2))
for (i in 1:ncol(fwi.components)) {
plot(x$fecha, fwi.components[ ,i], ty = l, ylab = names(fwi.components)[i])
}
# End
fwiSpain 9

fwiSpain Fire weather index data from observations and reanalysis at 7 loca-
tions in Spain

Description

This dataset contains data of temperature, relative humidity, precipitation and wind velocity from 7
locations in Spain, as well as the resulting Fire Weather Index series, corresponding to both weather
station observations and reanalysis data.

Usage

data(fwiSpain)

Format

A list of two elements, containing data of the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis and observations data re-
spectively. For each element of the list, a second list of length 7 is provided, each corresponding to
a particular location in Spain, each of them containing a dataframe with the following fields:

fecha A vector of class Date with dates of the records

T A numeric vector of temperature records, in degree C
H A numeric vector of relative hunidity records, in degree %
P A numeric vector of precipitation records, in mm, see details
W A numeric vector of wind speed records, in km/h
FWI A numeric vector with the Fire Weather Index series (dimensionless, see fwi)

Details

Data correspond both to observations from the Spanish Meteorological Agency (AEMET, all recorded
at noon excepting precipitation, recorded at 07:00 UTC and corresponding to values accumulated
during the last 24h) and the NCEP reanalysis interpolated to the same locations (12:00 UTC), en-
compassing a period of approximately 6 years (2006-2011). These records are therefore appropriate
for the calculation of several fire danger indices, requiring data measured around noon. Further de-
tails on this dataset are provided in Bedia et al. (2012).

Source

Kistler, R., Kalnay, E., Collins,W., Saha, S., White, G., Woollen, J., Chelliah, M., Ebisuzaki,W.,
Kanamitsu, M., Kousky, V., van den Dool, H., Jenne, R., and Fiorino, M.: The NCEP-NCAR 50-
year reanalysis: Monthly means CD-ROM and documentation, Bull. Amer. Meteorol. Soc., 82,
247-267, 2001.
10 hsPET

References

J. Bedia, S. Herrera, J.M. Gutierrez, G. Zavala, I. R. Urbieta and J.M. Moreno (2012). Sensitivity
of Fire Weather Index to different reanalysis products in the Iberian Peninsula. Nat. Hazards Earth
Syst. Sci., 12, 699-708. URL: http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/12/699/2012/
nhess-12-699-2012.html

See Also

fwi and meteoSpain for a longer time series of daily mean data of some variables at one of the
locations.

Examples
data(fwiSpain)
names(fwiSpain)
str(fwiSpain)
## End

hsPET Computation of the potential evapotranspiration according to the

Hargreaves-Samani method

Description

The function uses the Hargreaves-Samani equation to estimate the potential evapotranspiration from
minimum and maximum temperature records, provided the latitude of the target location. Option-
ally, the extraterrestrial solar radiation is also returned.

Usage

hsPET(date, lat = 42, t.min, t.max, ret.rad = FALSE)

Arguments

date A vector of dates. This includes any format directly coercible to the POSIXlt
time class (see details of function fwi).
lat Latitude of the location, in decimal degrees
t.min Daily series of minimum temperature
t.max Daily series of maximum temperature
ret.rad Logical flag. Should the estimated extraterrestrial radiation values be returned.
Default to FALSE
hsPET 11

Value
A list containing the following items:
date A POSIXlt vector of dates
HSevap A numeric vector of the estimated potential evapotranspiration, in mm per unit
time
Optionally, if argument ret.rad = TRUE, a third element is included in the output list:
Rad A numeric vector of the estimated extraterrestrial radiation, in MJ m-2 per unit
time

Note
The difference between the maximum and minimum air temperature (Tmax - Tmin) can be used
as an indicator of the fraction of extraterrestrial radiation that reaches the Earths surface. This
principle has been utilized by Hargreaves and Samani to develop estimates of PET using only air
temperature data. In general, temperature-based methods remain empirical and require local cali-
bration in order to achieve satisfactory results. A possible exception is the 1985 Hargreaves method
which has shown reasonable ETo results with a global validity.
Daily estimates by the Hargreaves equations are subject to error caused by the influence of the
temperature range caused by the movement of weather fronts and by large variations in wind speed
or cloud cover. Therefore, the Hargreaves methods are recommended for use with five-day or longer
time steps.

Author(s)
J. Bedia and M. Iturbide

References
Hargreaves, G.H. and Allen, R.G. (2003) History and evaluation of Hargreaves evapotranspiration
equation. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering-ASCE, 129, 53-63.

Examples
data(meteoSpain)

daily.pet <- hsPET(date=meteoSpain$date, lat=41.9, t.min=meteoSpain$tn,

t.max=meteoSpain$tx, ret.rad=FALSE)
str(daily.pet)

# Daily PET values

plot(daily.pet$date, daily.pet$HSevap, ty=l)

# Mean annual values of daily PET

x <- tapply(daily.pet$HSevap, daily.pet$date$year, mean)
plot(unique(daily.pet$date$year + 1900), x, ty=o, ylab = "HS-PET (mm day-1)",
xlab = "year")
abline(h=mean(x), lty=2)
# End
12 kbdi

kbdi Computation of the Keetch-Byram and McArthurs Drought Indices,

and the McArthurs Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI)

Description
The function computes three popular indices used for the assessment of forest fire danger potential:
the Keetch-Byram (KBDI) and McArthurs Drought Indices, and the McArthurs Forest Fire Danger
Index.

Usage
kbdi(date, t, p, h, w, wrs = 150, start.date = NULL)

Arguments
date A vector of dates. This includes any format directly coercible to the POSIXlt
time class (see details of function fwi
t Temperature time series, in degrees C
p Daily rainfall time series, in mm
h Relative humidity time series, in %
w Wind speed time series, in km/h
wrs Optional. Minimum weekly rainfall (mm accumulated in a week period), as-
sumed to lead soil moisture to field capacity (see details)
start.date Optional. Start date of KBDI computation (see details). Same format as argu-
ment date.

Details
The Keetch-Byram index (KBDI) number indicates the amount of net rainfall (in mm) that is re-
quired to reduce the index to zero. The initialization of KBDI usually involves setting it to zero after
a period of substantial precipitation. Thus, it is necessary to go back in time until a day is reached
on which it is reasonably certain that the upper soil layers were saturated to initialize the index. In
snowfree areas, the authors suggest 6 to 8 inches (152.4 to 203.2 mm) in a period of a week. In
areas of heavy snowfall, the best choice is probably starting the index just after the snow melts in
spring. For this reason, the function has two alternative arguments: wrs, for the precipitation-based
approach, or start.date, in order to set a fixed date to start the index.
KBDI is an input for the subsequent computation of the McArthurs drought code and FFDI.

Value
The function returns a dataframe with the following columns:

date A POSIXlt vector of dates

net.precip A numeric vector with the net precipitation (in mm)
kbdi 13

KBDI A numeric vector with the Keetch-Byram drought index values

McArthurDF A numeric vector with the MacArthurs drought factor values
FFDI A numeric vector with the MacArthurs Forest Fire Danger Index values

Note
The physical theory for the KBDI (Keetch and Byram 1968) is based on a number of assumptions.
The first assumption is that soil moisture is at field capacity with a water depth equivalent to about
200mm. The second assumption is that the rate of moisture loss in an area depends on the vege-
tation cover in the area, and vegetation density is a function of the mean annual rainfall. Hence,
daily transpiration is approximated by an inverse exponential function of the mean annual rainfall.
Finally, the evaporation rate of soil moisture with time is assumed to be an estimation of relative
evapotranspiration from exponential function of the daily maximum air temperature. Sensitivity
analyses from earlier researchers have revealed that KBDI decays exponentially with an assumed
maximum soil water deficit and is sensitive to the daily maximum air temperature (Dennison et al.
2003). Its values range from 0 to 800 (in hundredths of inch, equivalent to 203.2mm), with 800
indicating extreme drought and zero indicating saturated soil.
On the other hand, McArthurs drought factor equation incorporates the KBDI, and it is in turn used
to compute the McArthurs forest fire danger index (FFDI), used in Australia for several decades,
generally providing a good indication of the difficulty of fire suppression over a wide range of
conditions.

Author(s)
J. Bedia

References
Dennison, P.E., Roberts, D.A., Thorgusen, S.R., Regelbrugge, J.C., Weise, D. and Christopher,
L. (2003) Modeling seasonal changes in live fuel moisture and equivalent water thickness using a
cumulative water balance index. Remote Sensing of Environment, 88, 442-452.
Dowdy, A.J., Mills, G.A., Finkele, K. and de Groot, W. (2010). Index sensitivity analysis applied
to the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index and the McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index. Meteoro-
logical Applications, 17, 298-312.
Keetch, J.J. and Byram, G.M. (1968). A drought index for forest fire control. Tech. Rep., USDA
Forest Service Research Paper SE-38, North Carolina, USA.

See Also
fwi, angstronIndex, nesterovIndex, fmi, for alternative drought/fire danger indices.

Examples

data(fwiSpain)
x <- fwiSpain$observed$Salamanca
# Initialization of the KBDI the first day of the series, just as an example
calc <- kbdi(date=x$fecha, t=x$T, p=x$P, h=x$H, w=x$W, start.date=x$fecha[1])
par(mfrow=c(2,2))
14 meteoSpain

plot(x$fecha, calc$net.precip, ty=l, main = "Net precipitation",

ylab = "Net Precip", xlab = "date")
plot(x$fecha, calc$KBDI, ty=l, main = "Keetch-Byram Drought Index",
ylab = "KBDI", xlab = "date")
plot(x$fecha, calc$McArthurDF, ty=l, main ="McArthurs Drought Factor",
ylab = "MADF", xlab = "date")
plot(x$fecha, calc$FFDI, ty=l, main = "McArthurs Forest Fire Danger Index",
ylab = "FFDI", xlab = "date")
#End

meteoSpain Daily time series of Tmax, Tmin and Precipitation

Description

Daily time series of observed Tmax, Tmin and Precip at the weather station of Salamanca-Matacan
(Spain). Data belongs to the European Climate Assessment (ECA) dataset, for the period January
1945 - July 2012.

Usage

data(meteoSpain)

Format

A data frame with 24656 observations on the following 4 variables.

date A POSIXlt vector of observation dates

tn A numeric vector of minimum temperature records, in degree C
tx A numeric vector of maximum temperature records, in degree C
pr A numeric vector of precipitation records, in mm

Source

Tank, A., Wijngaard, J., Konnen, G., Bohm, R., Demaree, G., Gocheva, A., Mileta, M., Pashiardis,
S., Hejkrlik, L., Kern-Hansen, C., Heino, R., Bessemoulin, P., Muller-Westermeier, G., Tzanakou,
M., Szalai, S., Palsdottir, T., Fitzgerald, D., Rubin, S., Capaldo, M., Maugeri, M., Leitass, A.,
Bukantis, A., Aberfeld, R., Van Engelen, A., Forland, E., Mietus, M., Coelho, F., Mares, C., Razu-
vaev, V., Nieplova, E., Cegnar, T., Lopez, J., Dahlstrom, B., Moberg, A., Kirchhofer, W., Ceylan,
A., Pachaliuk, O., Alexander, L., and Petrovic, P.: Daily dataset of 20th-century surface air tempera-
ture and precipitation series for the European Climate Assessment, Int. J. Climatol., 22, 1441-1453,
2002
nesterovIndex 15

Examples
data(meteoSpain)

tx.mean <- tapply(meteoSpain$tx, meteoSpain$date$year, mean)

tn.mean <- tapply(meteoSpain$tn, meteoSpain$date$year, mean)
plot(unique(meteoSpain$date$year + 1900), tx.mean - tn.mean, ty = "o", col = "red",
ylab = "Mean annual temperature range")
# End

nesterovIndex Computes the Nesterov Index and the Modified Nesterov Index

Description
Computes the Nesterov Index (NI) and the Modified Nesterov Index (MNI). NI was developed in
former Soviet Union as an empirical function reflecting the relationship between observed weather
conditions and fire occurrence.

Usage
nesterovIndex(t, rh, p, modified = FALSE)

Arguments
t A numeric vector of temperature records, in degree C
rh A numeric vector of relative humidity records, in %
p A numeric vector of precipitation records, in mm
modified Logical flag indicating if the original/modified (FALSE/TRUE) version of the in-
dex is computed. Default to original (FALSE).

Details
NI is a cumulative index, but summation is performed for those days when the daily precipitation
(p) does not exceed 3 mm. At p > 3 mm, the NI value is reset zero. Usually, the values from NI
are divided into five ranges to provide an estimate of fire danger potential. Conditions with NI <
300 (regime I) are not considered hazardous. Conditions in the ranges 300-1000, 1000-4000, 4000-
10000, and > 10000 are considered regimes with low (II), moderate (III), high (IV), and extreme
(V) level of fire hazard.
Previous studies reveal that NI may be unstable in some cases, and a modification of this index has
been proposed by introducing to its values a K scale coefficient (see Groisman et al. 2007) in the
range [0,1], accounting for the amount of precipitation and previous dryness in a more detailed way
than the original NI. This alternative version is obtained by setting the argument modified = TRUE.

Value
A numeric vector with the index values
16 nesterovIndex

Author(s)
J. Bedia

References
Groisman, P.Y., Sherstyukov, B.G., Razuvaev, V.N., Knight, R.W., Enloe, J.G., Stroumentova, N.S.,
Whitfield, P.H., Forland, E., Hannsen-Bauer, I., Tuomenvirta, H., Aleksandersson, H., Mescher-
skaya, A.V., Karl, T.R., 2007. Potential forest fire danger over Northern Eurasia: Changes during
the 20th century. Global and Planetary Change 56, 371-386

See Also
kbdi and some components of fwi (DC) for other cumulative indices.

Examples
data(fwiSpain)

# Difference between NI and MNI

par(mfrow = c(4,2))
for (i in 1:length(fwiSpain$observed)) {
x <- fwiSpain$observed[[i]]
ni <- nesterovIndex(t=x$T, rh=x$H, p=x$P)
mni <- nesterovIndex(t=x$T, rh=x$H, p=x$P, modified = TRUE)
plot(x$fecha, ni - mni, ty = "l", main = names(fwiSpain$observed)[i])
}
#End
Index

Topic datasets
fwiSpain, 9
meteoSpain, 14

angstronIndex, 2, 6, 13

calibrateProj, 4

fireDanger-package, 2
fmi, 5, 13
fwi, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16
fwiSpain, 9

hsPET, 10

kbdi, 12, 16

meteoSpain, 10, 14

nesterovIndex, 13, 15

17