Link Between Precipitation Climatology and Vegetation Fire Occurrences in the Municipalities Along the CE-060 Highway - Region of Economic Interest in the State of Ceará

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of the relationship between the climatology of rainfall and the occurrence of vegetation fires in municipalities in the State of Ceará around Highway CE-060 (Maracanaú, Pacatuba, Guaiuba, Redenção, Acarape, Aracoiaba and Baturité), a route that it runs from the capital Fortaleza/CE to the municipality of Baturité/CE (Serra de Baturité Environmental Protection Area), a region of economic interest in the State of Ceará. Fire occurrences were analyzed using data from the BDQueimadas program of the National Institute for Space Research - INPE and correlated with precipitation data obtained from the Data Collection Platforms (PCD) of the Cearense Foundation of Meteorology and Water Resources (FUNCEME). The results show that the practice of burning in these regions occurs with greater intensity in the second half of the year (dry period in the region), a fact that explains the low statistical correlation between the total accumulated precipitation and the total number of fires observed in the region. In addition, it is observed that the occurrence of fires in vegetation in the period that anticipates the rainy season, due to the practice of cleaning areas for planting, encounters atmospheric conditions that contribute to large fires in vegetation in these regions.

Keywords
climatology; vegetation fires; environment degradation