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https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-274
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-274
10 Mar 2025
 | 10 Mar 2025

Estimating future wildfire burnt area over Greece using the JULES-INFERNO model

Anastasios Rovithakis, Eleanor Burke, Chantelle Burton, Matthew Kasoar, Manolis G. Grillakis, Konstantinos D. Seiradakis, and Apostolos Voulgarakis

Abstract. Our previous studies have shown that fire weather conditions in the Mediterranean and specifically over Greece are expected to become more severe with climate change, impling potential increases in burnt area. Here, we employ the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES) coupled with the INFERNO fire model driven by future climate projections from the UKESM1 model to investigate the repercussions of climate change and future vegetation changes on burnt area over Greece. We validate modelled burnt area against the satellite-derived GFED5 dataset, and find the model’s performance to be good, especially for the more fire-prone parts of the country in the south Greece. For future simulations, we use future climate data following three Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), consisting of an optimistic climate change scenario where fossil fuel emissions peak and decline beyond 2020 (SSP126), a middle-of-the-road scenario (SSP370), and a pessimistic scenario where emissions continue to rise throughout the century (SSP8.5). Our results show increased burnt area in the future compared to the present-day period in response to overall hotter and drier climatological conditions. We use an additional JULES-INFERNO simulation in which dynamic vegetation was activated, and find that it features smaller future burned area increases compared to our simulation with static present-day vegetation. For this dynamically changing vegetation simulation the greatest burnt area increases are found for southern Greece, due to higher future availability of flammable and heat-resistant needleleaf trees and the smallest decreases in agricultural areas of northern Greece due to a reduction in the aforementioned tree category.

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Journal article(s) based on this preprint

09 Sep 2025
Estimating future wildfire burnt area over Greece using the JULES-INFERNO model
Anastasios Rovithakis, Eleanor Burke, Chantelle Burton, Matthew Kasoar, Manolis G. Grillakis, Konstantinos D. Seiradakis, and Apostolos Voulgarakis
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 3185–3200, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-3185-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-3185-2025, 2025
Short summary
Anastasios Rovithakis, Eleanor Burke, Chantelle Burton, Matthew Kasoar, Manolis G. Grillakis, Konstantinos D. Seiradakis, and Apostolos Voulgarakis

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-274', Anonymous Referee #1, 28 May 2025
    • AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Anastasios Rovithakis, 19 Jun 2025
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-274', Anonymous Referee #2, 29 May 2025
    • AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Anastasios Rovithakis, 19 Jun 2025

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-274', Anonymous Referee #1, 28 May 2025
    • AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Anastasios Rovithakis, 19 Jun 2025
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-274', Anonymous Referee #2, 29 May 2025
    • AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Anastasios Rovithakis, 19 Jun 2025

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload
ED: Reconsider after major revisions (further review by editor and referees) (19 Jun 2025) by Ricardo Trigo
AR by Anastasios Rovithakis on behalf of the Authors (19 Jun 2025)  Author's response   Author's tracked changes   Manuscript 
ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (29 Jun 2025) by Ricardo Trigo
RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (25 Jul 2025)
ED: Publish as is (31 Jul 2025) by Ricardo Trigo
AR by Anastasios Rovithakis on behalf of the Authors (07 Aug 2025)

Journal article(s) based on this preprint

09 Sep 2025
Estimating future wildfire burnt area over Greece using the JULES-INFERNO model
Anastasios Rovithakis, Eleanor Burke, Chantelle Burton, Matthew Kasoar, Manolis G. Grillakis, Konstantinos D. Seiradakis, and Apostolos Voulgarakis
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 3185–3200, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-3185-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-3185-2025, 2025
Short summary
Anastasios Rovithakis, Eleanor Burke, Chantelle Burton, Matthew Kasoar, Manolis G. Grillakis, Konstantinos D. Seiradakis, and Apostolos Voulgarakis
Anastasios Rovithakis, Eleanor Burke, Chantelle Burton, Matthew Kasoar, Manolis G. Grillakis, Konstantinos D. Seiradakis, and Apostolos Voulgarakis

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Short summary
JULES-INFERNO captures observed burned area across Greece fairly well for the present-day. Drastic future changes in burnt area in Eastern continental and southern Greece, especially under severe climate change scenarios. Static vegetation leads to larger burnt area compared to dynamic vegetation due to the lower concentration of flammable needleleaf trees.
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