Analysis of the year 2008 fires in the forest lands of the Mu la Regional Forest Service by using drought indices

Mu la district is existed among the most risky areas of Turkey in terms of forest fires. In every year, Mu la Regional Forest Service faces significant level of economic losses associated with disappearance of the forest lands and degradation of the ecosystem services due to the forest fires occurred within its regional boundaries. In this study, by using long-term meteorological data recorded at the Mu la meteorology station, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) aridity index and Erin ’s drought index values were calculated along with determination of the climate types. In addition, in order to assess the year 2008 forest fires, the Keetch-Byram drought index were calculated, and its capture rates of forest fires were determined, by making use of the 2008 daily data. Some findings reached in this study can be summarized as follows: (i) Arid climate conditions are seen in Mu la during the period between the months of the July and the September according to the UNCCD aridity index.(ii) Arid conditions are found to have been effective between the months of the June and the September in terms of the Erin ’s drought index.(iii) In the year of 2008, the Keetch-Byram drought index was over the high index level with a 600 value during the period between the days of 27.06.2008 and 19.11.2008.(iv) The Keetch-Byram drought index caught 69% of the 348 forest fires occurred at Mu la in the year of 2008 with a certain level of fire occurrence.(v) Results of the Keetch-Byram drought index that were calculated for the year of 2008 have shown higher relationships between the events of forest fires and the weather and climate conditions in comparison with the UNCCD aridity and Erin ’s drought indices.