Publications by authors named "Olga Christopoulou"

Forest fires are a natural phenomenon which might have severe implications on natural and anthropogenic ecosystems. Future projections predict that, under a climate change environment, the fire season would be lengthier with higher levels of droughts, leading to higher fire severity. The main aim of this paper is to perform a spatiotemporal analysis and explore the variability of fire hazard in a small Greek island, Skiathos (a prototype case of fragile environment) where the land uses mixture is very high.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Wildfires can significantly impact the economy and ecology of affected areas, especially when they burn intensely, making timely fire control essential.
  • This paper explores using simulation modeling and spatial optimization to determine the best locations for fire-management resources on the Greek island of Thasos, considering current capabilities and financial constraints.
  • The analysis identified high-risk burn areas and proposed optimal configurations for fire-fighting vehicles, suggesting a relocation of fire agency resources to enhance responsiveness and efficiency in fire management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The sustainable forest management can be achieved only through environmentally sound and economically efficient and feasible forest road networks and transportation systems that can potentially improve the multi-functional use of forest resources. However, road network planning and construction suggest long-term finance that require a capital investment (cash outflow), which would be equal to the value of the total revenue flow (cash inflow) over the whole lifecycle project. This paper emphasizes in an eco-efficient and economical optimum evaluation method for the forest road networks in the mountainous forest of Metsovo, Greece.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The sustainable management of forest resources can only be achieved through a well-organized road network designed with the optimal spatial planning and the minimum environmental impacts. This paper describes the spatial layout mapping for the optimal forest road network and the environmental impacts evaluation that are caused to the natural environment based on the multicriteria evaluation (MCE) technique at the Mediterranean island of Thassos in Greece. Data analysis and its presentation are achieved through a spatial decision support system using the MCE method with the contribution of geographic information systems (GIS).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF