Quantifying wildfire growth rates using smoke plume observations derived from weather radar

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Duff ◽  
Derek M. Chong ◽  
Trent D. Penman
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Quantitative Methods ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Rate Of Change ◽  
Theoretic Approach ◽  
Weather Radars ◽  
Time Estimates ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Fire Area ◽  
Information Theoretic Approach

Fast-moving wildfires can result in substantial losses of infrastructure, property and life. During such events, real-time intelligence is critical for managing firefighting activities and public safety. The ability of fixed-site weather radars to detect the plumes from fires has long been recognised; however, quantitative methods to link properties of radar observed plumes to fire behaviour are lacking. We investigated the potential for weather radars to provide real time estimates of the growth of large fires in south-eastern Australia. Specifically, we examined whether the rate of change in fire area could be approximated using the change in volume represented by radar returns. We evaluated a series of linear mixed-effects models predicting fire-area growth using radar data representing a range of dBZ thresholds and search volumes. Models were compared using an information–theoretic approach. Radar return volume was found to be a robust predictor of fire-area change. The best model had a minimum threshold of 10 dBZ and a search radius of 60 km (R2 = 0.64). Fire area and radar relationships did not vary significantly between radar stations, suggesting broad applicability beyond the dataset. Further development of the use of weather radars for wildfire monitoring could yield substantial benefits because of their high frequency of scan and broad coverage over many populated areas.

A Real-Time, Three-Dimensional, Rapidly Updating, Heterogeneous Radar Merger Technique for Reflectivity, Velocity, and Derived Products

2006 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 802-823 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valliappa Lakshmanan ◽  
Travis Smith ◽  
Kurt Hondl ◽  
Gregory J. Stumpf ◽  
Arthur Witt
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Time Synchronization ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Streaming Data ◽  
Weather Radars ◽  
Beam Geometry ◽  
Time Stamps ◽  
Scalar Products ◽  
Radar Calibration

Abstract With the advent of real-time streaming data from various radar networks, including most Weather Surveillance Radars-1988 Doppler and several Terminal Doppler Weather Radars, it is now possible to combine data in real time to form 3D multiple-radar grids. Herein, a technique for taking the base radar data (reflectivity and radial velocity) and derived products from multiple radars and combining them in real time into a rapidly updating 3D merged grid is described. An estimate of that radar product combined from all the different radars can be extracted from the 3D grid at any time. This is accomplished through a formulation that accounts for the varying radar beam geometry with range, vertical gaps between radar scans, the lack of time synchronization between radars, storm movement, varying beam resolutions between different types of radars, beam blockage due to terrain, differing radar calibration, and inaccurate time stamps on radar data. Techniques for merging scalar products like reflectivity, and innovative, real-time techniques for combining velocity and velocity-derived products are demonstrated. Precomputation techniques that can be utilized to perform the merger in real time and derived products that can be computed from these three-dimensional merger grids are described.

Comparing the height and area of wild and prescribed fire particle plumes in south-east Australia using weather radar

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Owen F. Price ◽  
Phil J. Purdam ◽  
Grant J. Williamson ◽  
David M. J. S. Bowman
Keyword(s):  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Prescribed Fires ◽  
Maximum Height ◽  
Major Health ◽  
Weather Radars ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Large Particles ◽  
Smoke Pollution ◽  
Large Fires ◽  
Fire Area

Smoke pollution from landscape fires is a major health issue. Prescribed burning aims to reduce the area and impact of wildfire, but itself produces smoke pollution. This raises the question as to whether the smoke production and transport from prescribed fires is substantially different compared to wildfires. We examined the maximum height, width and areal footprint of large-particle plumes from 97 wild and 126 prescribed fires in south-eastern Australia using the existing network of weather radars. Radar detects large particles in smoke (probably those >100 μm) and hence is an imperfect proxy for microfine (<2 μm) particles that are known to affect human health. Of the 223 landscape fires, ~45% of plumes were detected, with the probability being >0.8 for large fires (>100 000 ha) regardless of type, closer than 50 km from the radar. Plume height was strongly influenced by fire area, the height of the planetary boundary layer and fire type. Plume heights differed between wildfire (range 1016–12 206 m, median 3260 m) and prescribed fires (range 706–6397 m, median 1669 m), and prescribed fires were predicted to be 800–1200 m lower than wildfires, controlling for other factors. For both wildfires and prescribed fires, the maximum plume footprint was always near the ground.

Habitat requirements of the yellow-footed antechinus (Antechinus flavipes) in box - ironbark forest, Victoria, Australia

2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke T. Kelly ◽  
Andrew F. Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Forest Structure ◽  
Dry Forest ◽  
Habitat Requirements ◽  
Theoretic Approach ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Rock Cover ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Large Trees ◽  
Information Theoretic Approach

Understanding the habitat requirements of a species is critical for effective conservation-based management. In this study, we investigated the influence of forest structure on the distribution of the yellow-footed antechinus (Antechinus flavipes), a small dasyurid marsupial characteristic of dry forests on the inland side of the Great Dividing Range, Australia. Hair-sampling tubes were used to determine the occurrence of A. flavipes at 60 sites stratified across one of the largest remaining tracts of dry box–ironbark forest in south-eastern Australia. We considered the role of six potential explanatory variables: large trees, hollow-bearing trees, coppice hollows, logs, rock cover and litter. Logistic regression models were examined using an information-theoretic approach to determine the variables that best explained the presence or absence of the species. Hierarchical partitioning was employed to further explore relationships between occurrence of A. flavipes and explanatory variables. Forest structure accounted for a substantial proportion of the variation in occurrence of A. flavipes between sites. The strongest influence on the presence of A. flavipes was the cover of litter at survey sites. The density of hollow-bearing trees and rock cover were also positive influences. The conservation of A. flavipes will be enhanced by retention of habitat components that ensure a structurally complex environment in box–ironbark forests. This will also benefit the conservation of several threatened species in this dry forest ecosystem.

A novel approach to the real-time modelling of large urban drainage systems

1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (8-9) ◽  
pp. 19-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Norreys ◽  
Ian Cluckie
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Dynamic Models ◽  
Drainage System ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Urban Drainage ◽  
Real Time Control ◽  
Empirical Modelling ◽  
Time Control ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Non Linear Systems

Conventional UDS models are mechanistic which though appropriate for design purposes are less well suited to real-time control because they are slow running, difficult to calibrate, difficult to re-calibrate in real time and have trouble handling noisy data. At Salford University a novel hybrid of dynamic and empirical modelling has been developed, to combine the speed of the empirical model with the ability to simulate complex and non-linear systems of the mechanistic/dynamic models. This paper details the ‘knowledge acquisition module’ software and how it has been applied to construct a model of a large urban drainage system. The paper goes on to detail how the model has been linked with real-time radar data inputs from the MARS c-band radar.

Spatial Interpolators for Intra-Frame Resampling of SAR Videos: A Comparative Study Using Real-Time HD, Medical and Radar Data

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 144-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad R. Khosravi ◽  
Sadegh Samadi ◽  
Reza Mohseni
Keyword(s):  
Computational Complexity ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Video Compression ◽  
Nearest Neighbor ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Edge Preservation ◽  
Edge Information ◽  
Video Codecs ◽  
Comparative Results ◽  
Interesting Area

Background: Real-time video coding is a very interesting area of research with extensive applications into remote sensing and medical imaging. Many research works and multimedia standards for this purpose have been developed. Some processing ideas in the area are focused on second-step (additional) compression of videos coded by existing standards like MPEG 4.14. Materials and Methods: In this article, an evaluation of some techniques with different complexity orders for video compression problem is performed. All compared techniques are based on interpolation algorithms in spatial domain. In details, the acquired data is according to four different interpolators in terms of computational complexity including fixed weights quartered interpolation (FWQI) technique, Nearest Neighbor (NN), Bi-Linear (BL) and Cubic Cnvolution (CC) interpolators. They are used for the compression of some HD color videos in real-time applications, real frames of video synthetic aperture radar (video SAR or ViSAR) and a high resolution medical sample. Results: Comparative results are also described for three different metrics including two reference- based Quality Assessment (QA) measures and an edge preservation factor to achieve a general perception of various dimensions of the mentioned problem. Conclusion: Comparisons show that there is a decidable trade-off among video codecs in terms of more similarity to a reference, preserving high frequency edge information and having low computational complexity.

scholarly journals Real-Time Musculoskeletal Kinematics and Dynamics Analysis Using Marker- and IMU-Based Solutions in Rehabilitation

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1804
Author(s):  
Dimitar Stanev ◽  
Konstantinos Filip ◽  
Dimitrios Bitzas ◽  
Sokratis Zouras ◽  
Georgios Giarmatzis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Small Error ◽  
Grand Challenge ◽  
Muscle Forces ◽  
Time Estimates ◽  
Musculoskeletal Models ◽  
Open Source Framework ◽  
Measurement Units ◽  
Technical Details ◽  
Significant Milestone

This study aims to explore the possibility of estimating a multitude of kinematic and dynamic quantities using subject-specific musculoskeletal models in real-time. The framework was designed to operate with marker-based and inertial measurement units enabling extensions far beyond dedicated motion capture laboratories. We present the technical details for calculating the kinematics, generalized forces, muscle forces, joint reaction loads, and predicting ground reaction wrenches during walking. Emphasis was given to reduce computational latency while maintaining accuracy as compared to the offline counterpart. Notably, we highlight the influence of adequate filtering and differentiation under noisy conditions and its importance for consequent dynamic calculations. Real-time estimates of the joint moments, muscle forces, and reaction loads closely resemble OpenSim’s offline analyses. Model-based estimation of ground reaction wrenches demonstrates that even a small error can negatively affect other estimated quantities. An application of the developed system is demonstrated in the context of rehabilitation and gait retraining. We expect that such a system will find numerous applications in laboratory settings and outdoor conditions with the advent of predicting or sensing environment interactions. Therefore, we hope that this open-source framework will be a significant milestone for solving this grand challenge.

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