Authenticate
For signed up users

The  paper  presents  the  results  of  analysis  of  arid  landscapes  burning  in  the  European  part  of  Russia  and  the  adjacent  territories  of  Western  Kazakhstan.  Based  on  the  years-long  archive  of  detecting  ac-tive fires (hot spots, thermal spots) for the period of 2001–2019, the paper outlines seasonal and long-term  regularities  of  the  dynamics  of  burning  in  the  context  of  regions  and  types  of  land  cover.  At  the  first  stage,  technogenic  sources  of  hot  spots  were  identified  and  classified.  Then,  the  archive  of  hot  spots was grouped by regions and types of land cover. The highest density of hot spots is typical of the floodplain  landscapes  of  river  valleys  and  cultivated  lands.  A  steady  decrease  in  fire  frequency  of  all  categories of land has been observed since 2010–2011. A particularly strong decrease in the number and density of active fires is characteristic of arable lands. Half of all hot spots in the territory under study are  recorded  in  summer,  and  the  other  half  is  almost  equally  distributed  between  spring  and  autumn.  The reduction in fire frequency is mainly due to decrease in the number of summer and autumn fires. This  is  especially  peculiar  of  arable  lands  with  other  types  of  land  cover.  The  seasonal  distribution  of  hot  spots  in  the  territory  under  study  corresponds  to  latitudinal-zonal  features  of  landscapes,  nature  management and settlement patterns: northern regions suffer from spring burns in April, as well as ag-ricultural burns in August and September, while on semi-desert and desert pastures, most hot spots are recorded in June and July. The revealed regularities in landscapes burning will make it possible to more effectively organize fire-prevention measures, as well as serve as the basis for selection of satellite data for further visual identification of burned-out areas.