GFMC EARLY WARNING PORTAL: DAILY GLOBAL AND REGIONAL FIRE WEATHER AND CLIMATE FORECASTS & BACKGROUND MATERIALS
The Finnish Forest Fire Index
The Finnish Meteorological Institute publishes a daily fire danger map of Finland. The map is based on the Forest Fire Index Calculation System.
Since the website language is Finnish a brief explanation of the system is given here:
The Finnish Forest Fire Index Calculation System
Since summer 1996 the forest fire index calculation in Finland is based on surface moisture estimation. The calculation is done on a 10*10 km grid. Air temperature, air humidity, wind speed , solar radiation and precipitation measurements made on observing stations are interpolated onto the grid with an objective interpolation method known as ‘kriging’. Potential evaporation is calculated for each grid-square based on the interpolated meteorological data using the Penman-Monteith-equation. The moisture of a 60 mm thick surface layer is estimated using potential evaporation and precipitation data, and finally, the surface moisture is scaled to forest-fire index values (1-6) which are sent to forest fire authorities.
Explanations below the daily fire danger map
Since the forest fire index page is provided in Finnish a short explanation of the wordings and links on this page is given below
Aluekeskiarvot – Average value of the region, used for issuing a forest fire warning to the public
Analyysi – Analysis: Forest fire index made for a spacial grid of 10km x 10km
Pääsivu – Main page: showing the forest fire index for today
Asemat – Stations: Table of forest fire indices sorted by the weather stations, containing also information about the wind speed
Maakunnat – Table of forest fire indices sorted by the regions, containing also information about the wind speed (tuuli)
Sääennuste – Weather broadcast for the current day, (text version in Finnish only)
Arkisto – Archive: Containing Maps and tables of the forest fire index in the past
Ohjeet – Instructions: Contains more information and links related to the forest fire index (in finnish only)
Metsäpaloindeksi – Forest Fire Index
Lunta Snowcover
