Examples

A processing issue has been identified in the current release of the Climate DT Wildfire Fire Weather Index (FWI) dataset. Due to an error in the handling of precipitation input data, the FWI calculations produce unrealistically high values. As a result, the current dataset should not be considered scientifically reliable for quantitative analyses or decision-making purposes. Users are advised not to use the current FWI dataset until a corrected version becomes available. A reprocessing campaign is being prepared and updated data will be released as soon as possible.

This page provides example applications and typical workflows for using Wildfire FWI data. This page provides example applications, typical workflows and example notebooks for using Wildfire FWI data from the Destination Earth Service Platform.

Typical applications

Wildfire FWI indicators can be used in a variety of applications related to climate impact assessment and risk analysis:

  • Assessment of wildfire risk under present and future climate conditions

  • Identification of regions with high fire danger frequency

  • Analysis of seasonal variability in fire weather conditions

  • Evaluation of changes in wildfire risk due to climate change

  • Support for land management, civil protection, and planning activities

Example workflow

A typical analysis using Wildfire FWI data consists of the following steps:

  1. Select region and time period

    • Define the geographical area of interest

    • Choose a suitable time range (e.g. historical or projection period)

  2. Access the data

    • Retrieve Wildfire FWI datasets from the DestinE Data Lake

    • Select relevant daily FWI variables, annual statistics or domain-average FWI variables.

  3. Preprocess the data

    • Load NetCDF data into a suitable analysis environment (e.g. Python, MATLAB)

    • Subset the data spatially or temporally if needed

  4. Analyse wildfire indicators

    • Compute statistics such as mean, percentiles, or threshold exceedances

    • Identify periods of high fire danger

    • Compare different time periods or scenarios

  5. Visualise results

    • Create maps of fire danger indices

    • Plot time series of FWI values

    • Highlight extreme events or high-risk areas

Example analysis use cases

1. Regional wildfire risk assessment

  • Evaluate average and extreme FWI values over a region

  • Identify hotspots of persistent high fire danger

  • Compare different climate scenarios

2. Seasonal analysis

  • Analyse monthly or seasonal patterns of FWI

  • Identify peak fire season timing

  • Assess changes in season length

3. Extreme fire weather events

  • Count the number of days exceeding a high FWI threshold

  • Identify years with particularly severe conditions

  • Analyse spatial extent of extreme events

Notebook examples

The following example notebook demonstrates data retrieval and simple plotting of Wildfire FWI data. Additional examples will follow.

Notes

  • The Wildfire FWI index reflects atmospheric conditions only and does not directly account for vegetation or ignition sources.

  • Interpretation of results should consider model uncertainties and local factors affecting wildfire occurrence.