Distribution and correlation analysis of wildfire and weather data in Japan

To establish the wildfire danger rating system, detailed data of wildfire and some related parameters such as weather, population and tree species are required. In this paper, the raw data of weather parameters in Japan are first expanded into more detailed data. The daily value of each weather parameter in each third-level mesh, which is about 1 km × 1 km in size, from year 1999 to 2000 is calculated by means of inverse distance weighted interpolation. Expansion results for third-level meshes are demonstrated. Fire probability for each parameter is calculated and analyzed. It is found that the dependency relation of fire probability on some parameters have surprisingly regular format. The data calculated and analyzed in the paper and the results may act as a basic database for wildfire researchers, and are expected to promote the study of wildfire danger rating method and the development of such systems. Supported by the China National Key Basic Research Special Funds (Grant No. 2001Ci3409600) and the Na...