Lightning-induced fire regime in Portugal based on satellite-derived and in situ data

Fire databases typically contain information regarding the location, timing, and duration of fire occurrences, as well as the cause (natural or human-induced). These databases allow for the analysis and understanding of the circumstances surrounding the ignition and propagation of wildfires, being highly relevant when addressing fire suppression and management plans, or for improvement of prevention policies. In Portugal, a large number of fires in the official database have unknown causes, which limits the understanding about the relevance of each fire cause, in particular the role of lightning on the ignition of fires over the country. The objective of this paper is twofold: first, we investigated the spatial-temporal variability of lightning-induced fires from 2003 to 2020. Then, we evaluate the feasibility of using remote sensing data as a surrogate for identifying fire causes, through validation with the fire database.