ArcFuel methodology for mapping forest fuels in Europe

The ArcFuel project aims to develop a generic methodology, which will enable the regular production of consistent forest vegetation fuel maps over Europe. Such maps can be used to simulate fire scenarios and support the design and implementation of effective prevention and mitigation measures against fires. ArcFuel uses the results of a recent effort of JRC Ispra, which aimed to create a standardized scheme of fuel types, representative of the vegetation occurring in the European forest regions. Based on this approach and using existing European spatial datasets and multi-temporal remotely sensed images ArcFuel defines a methodology for producing vegetation fuel maps compatible with the relevant scheme of JRC. The choice of input material was mainly driven by the need of keeping the production cost low and updating regularly the European vegetation fuel map. The proposed methodology can be applied in all EU regions and is currently tested and validated in pilot areas in Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy.