A series of 98 satellite images was analysed to reconstruct the fire and flood history of a floodplain system in
southern Africa(Okavango Delta, Botswana). The data was used to investigate interactions between fire and flooding, and to determine the relevance of rainfall and flood-events for fire occurrences on floodplains
and on drylands. The aims of the study are (1) to analyse and compare the fire frequency on floodplains and
on adjacent drylands, (2) to investigate the influence of rainfall and flooding on the fire occurrence and (3) to determine correlations between fire frequency and flood frequency. The analyses show higher fire frequencies on floodplains than on drylands because of higher biomass production and fuel loads. The fire
occurrence on drylands shows a correlation with annual rainfall events, while the fire frequency on
floodplains is in principle determined by the flood frequency. Between floodplain types, clear differences in the susceptibility to fire where shown by analysing flood frequency vs. fire frequency. Here, the highest
potential to burn was found for floodplains that get flooded about every second year. By calculating mean
fire return intervals, the potential to burn could be specified for the different floodplain types.