Predicting litter and live herb fuel consumption during prescribed fires in native and old-field upland pine communities of the southeastern United States

2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (8) ◽  
pp. 1611-1622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela M. Reid ◽  
Kevin M. Robertson ◽  
Tracy L. Hmielowski
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Fuel Consumption ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
Pinus Palustris ◽  
Fire Effects ◽  
Fuel Load ◽  
Prescribed Fires ◽  
Old Field ◽  
Fire Emissions ◽  
Fuel Loads

The ability to predict fuel consumption during fires is essential for a wide range of applications, including estimation of fire effects and fire emissions. This project identified predictors of fuel consumption for the dominant fuel bed components (litter (<0.6-cm diameter dead material) and live herbs) during 217 prescribed fires in native longleaf pine ( Pinus palustris Mill.) and old-field loblolly pine ( Pinus taeda L.) – shortleaf pine ( Pinus echinata Mill.) communities in the southeastern United States. Additionally, these data were used to validate the First Order Fire Effects Model (FOFEM) fuel consumption computer model using custom and default fuel loads. Regression models using empirical data suggested that litter and live herb fuel consumption can be predicted by prefire litter and live herb fuel loads, litter and live herb fuel moisture, litter fuel bed bulk density, season of burn, years since fire, days since last rain ≥0.64 cm, relative humidity, energy release component, community type, pine and hardwood basal areas, and the Keetch–Byram drought index. FOFEM’s prediction of fuel consumption for litter, live herbs, and duff combined using default fuel loads was 1.5 times the measured fuel consumption (where duff fuel load was zero). Refinement of FOFEM’s fuel load and consumption calculations in the studied community types using the newly collected data and suggestions for model improvement would provide more accurate air quality inventories and assist in guiding appropriate regulation of prescribed fire.

Evaluation of the CONSUME and FOFEM fuel consumption models in pine and mixed hardwood forests of the eastern United States

2014 ◽  
Vol 44 (7) ◽  
pp. 784-795 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan J. Prichard ◽  
Eva C. Karau ◽  
Roger D. Ottmar ◽  
Maureen C. Kennedy ◽  
James B. Cronan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Fuel Consumption ◽  
Prescribed Burning ◽  
Forest Type ◽  
Fire Effects ◽  
Eastern United States ◽  
Validation Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Predicted Values ◽  
Fine Fuels

Reliable predictions of fuel consumption are critical in the eastern United States (US), where prescribed burning is frequently applied to forests and air quality is of increasing concern. CONSUME and the First Order Fire Effects Model (FOFEM), predictive models developed to estimate fuel consumption and emissions from wildland fires, have not been systematically evaluated for application in the eastern US using the same validation data set. In this study, we compiled a fuel consumption data set from 54 operational prescribed fires (43 pine and 11 mixed hardwood sites) to assess each model’s uncertainties and application limits. Regions of indifference between measured and predicted values by fuel category and forest type represent the potential error that modelers could incur in estimating fuel consumption by category. Overall, FOFEM predictions have narrower regions of indifference than CONSUME and suggest better correspondence between measured and predicted consumption. However, both models offer reliable predictions of live fuel (shrubs and herbaceous vegetation) and 1 h fine fuels. Results suggest that CONSUME and FOFEM can be improved in their predictive capability for woody fuel, litter, and duff consumption for eastern US forests. Because of their high biomass and potential smoke management problems, refining estimates of litter and duff consumption is of particular importance.

scholarly journals Pine Straw Raking and Growth of Southern Pine: Review and Recommendations

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 799
Author(s):  
David Dickens ◽  
Lawrence Morris ◽  
David Clabo ◽  
Lee Ogden
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Growth Parameters ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
Growth And Yield ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Southern Pine ◽  
Old Field ◽  
Stand Growth ◽  
Private Landowner ◽  
Pine Straw

Pine straw, the uppermost forest floor layer of undecayed, reddish-brown pine needles, is raked, baled, and sold as a landscaping mulch throughout the southeastern United States. Loblolly (Pinus taeda, L.), longleaf (P. palustris, Mill.), and slash (P. elliottii Engelm. var. elliottii) pine are the three southern pine species commonly raked for pine straw. The value of pine straw as a forest product is large. Private landowner pine straw revenues have steadily increased throughout the southeastern United States over the past two decades and now total more than USD 200 million. Information is limited on the short- or long-term effects of pine straw removal on foliage production or stand growth in southern pine stands. Results from most published studies suggest that annual pine straw raking without fertilization on non-old-field sites reduces straw yields compared to no raking. Old-field sites often do not benefit from fertilization with increased pine straw or wood volume yields. Though fertilization may be beneficial for pine straw production on some sites, understory vegetation presence and disease prevalence may increase following fertilization. This review addresses pine straw removal effects on pine straw production and stand growth parameters based on recent studies and provides fertilization recommendations to maintain or improve pine straw production and stand growth and yield.

scholarly journals Modeling Regional-Scale Wildland Fire Emissions with the Wildland Fire Emissions Information System*

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (16) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy H. F. French ◽  
Donald McKenzie ◽  
Tyler Erickson ◽  
Benjamin Koziol ◽  
Michael Billmire ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Information System ◽  
North America ◽  
Fuel Consumption ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fire Emissions ◽  
The U.S ◽  
The Web

Abstract As carbon modeling tools become more comprehensive, spatial data are needed to improve quantitative maps of carbon emissions from fire. The Wildland Fire Emissions Information System (WFEIS) provides mapped estimates of carbon emissions from historical forest fires in the United States through a web browser. WFEIS improves access to data and provides a consistent approach to estimating emissions at landscape, regional, and continental scales. The system taps into data and tools developed by the U.S. Forest Service to describe fuels, fuel loadings, and fuel consumption and merges information from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration on fire location and timing. Currently, WFEIS provides web access to Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) burned area for North America and U.S. fire-perimeter maps from the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity products from the USGS, overlays them on 1-km fuel maps for the United States, and calculates fuel consumption and emissions with an open-source version of the Consume model. Mapped fuel moisture is derived from daily meteorological data from remote automated weather stations. In addition to tabular output results, WFEIS produces multiple vector and raster formats. This paper provides an overview of the WFEIS system, including the web-based system functionality and datasets used for emissions estimates. WFEIS operates on the web and is built using open-source software components that work with open international standards such as keyhole markup language (KML). Examples of emissions outputs from WFEIS are presented showing that the system provides results that vary widely across the many ecosystems of North America and are consistent with previous emissions modeling estimates and products.

scholarly journals Assessment of Fire Fuel Load Dynamics in Shrubland Ecosystems in the Western United States Using MODIS Products

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1911
Author(s):  
Zhengpeng Li ◽  
Hua Shi ◽  
James E. Vogelmann ◽  
Todd J. Hawbaker ◽  
Birgit Peterson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Net Primary Production ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Western United States ◽  
Fuel Load ◽  
High Temporal Resolution ◽  
Spectral Variability ◽  
Fuel Loads ◽  
Grassland Ecosystems ◽  
Fuel Models

Assessing fire behavior in shrubland/grassland ecosystems of the western United States has proven especially problematic, in part due to the complex nature of the vegetation and its relationships with prior fire history events. Our goals in this study were (1) to determine if we can effectively leverage the high temporal resolution capabilities of current remote sensing systems such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) to improve upon shrub and grassland mapping and (2) to determine if these improvements alter and improve fire behavior model results in these grass- and shrub-dominated systems. The study focused on the shrublands and grasslands of the Owyhee Basin, which is located primarily in southern Idaho. Shrubland and grassland fuel load dynamics were characterized using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Net Primary Production (NPP) datasets (both derived from MODIS). NDVI shrub and grassland values were converted to biomass, and custom fire behavior fuel models were then developed to evaluate the impacts of surface fuel changes on fire behaviors. Results from the study include the following: (1) high intra- and interannual spectral variability characterized these shrubland/grassland ecosystems, and this spectral variability was highly correlated with climate variables, most notably precipitation; (2) fire activity had a higher likelihood of occurring in areas where the NDVI (and biomass) differential between spring and summer values was especially high; (3) the annual fuel loads estimated from MODIS NPP showed that live herbaceous fuel loads were closely correlated with annual precipitation; (4) estimated fuel load accumulation was higher on shrublands than grasslands with the same vegetation productivity; (5) the total fuel load on shrublands was impacted by shrubland age, and live woody fuel load was over 66% of the total fuel load; and (6) comparisons of simulated fire behavior and spread between dynamic and static fuel loads, the latter estimates being obtained from the operational and nationwide LANDFIRE program, showed clear differences in fire indices and fire burn areas between the dynamic fuel loads and the static fuel loads. Current standard fuel models appear to have bias in underestimating the fire spread and total burnable area.

Direct carbon emissions from Canadian forest fires, 1959-1999

2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 512-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
B D Amiro ◽  
J B Todd ◽  
B M Wotton ◽  
K A Logan ◽  
M D Flannigan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Consumption ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Fire Effects ◽  
Fire Emissions ◽  
Post Fire Effects ◽  
Large Fires ◽  
Sink Condition ◽  
The Mean

Direct emissions of carbon from Canadian forest fires were estimated for all Canada and for each ecozone for the period 1959–1999. The estimates were based on a data base of large fires for the country and calculations of fuel consumption for each fire using the Canadian Forest Fire Behaviour Prediction System. This technique used the fire locations and start dates to estimate prevailing fire weather and fuel type for each of about 11 000 fires. An average of 2 × 106 ha·year–1 was burned in this period, varying from 0.3 × 106 ha in 1978 to 7.5 × 106 ha in 1989. Ecozones of the boreal and taiga areas experienced the greatest area burned, releasing most of the carbon (C). The mean area-weighted fuel consumption for all fires was 2.6 kg dry fuel·m–2 (1.3 kg C·m–2), but ecozones vary from 1.8 to 3.9 kg dry fuel·m–2. The mean annual estimate of direct carbon emissions was 27 ± 6 Tg C·year–1. Individual years ranged from 3 to 115 Tg C·year–1. These direct fire emissions represent about 18% of the current carbon dioxide emissions from the Canadian energy sector, on average, but vary from 2 to 75% among years. Post-fire effects cause an additional loss of carbon and changes to the forest sink condition.

scholarly journals Fire Activity and Fuel Consumption Dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gareth Roberts ◽  
Martin Wooster ◽  
Weidong Xu ◽  
Jiangping He
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Consumption ◽  
Southern Hemisphere ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Fuel Load ◽  
Biomass Combustion ◽  
Fire Emissions ◽  
Fire Activity ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

African landscape fires are widespread, recurrent and temporally dynamic. They burn large areas of the continent, modifying land surface properties and significantly affect the atmosphere. Satellite Earth Observation (EO) data play a pivotal role in capturing the spatial and temporal variability of African biomass burning, and provide the key data required to develop fire emissions inventories. Active fire observations of fire radiative power (FRP, MW) have been shown to be linearly related to rates of biomass combustion (kg s−1). The Meteosat FRP-PIXEL product, delivered in near real-time by the EUMETSAT Land Surface Analysis Satellite Applications Facility (LSA SAF), maps FRP at 3 km resolution and 15-min intervals and these data extend back to 2004. Here we use this information to assess spatio-temporal variations in fire activity across sub-Saharan Africa, and identify an overall trend of decreasing annual fire activity and fuel consumption, agreeing with the widely-used Global Fire Emissions Database (GFEDv4) based on burned area measures. We provide the first comprehensive assessment of relationships between per-fire FRE-derived fuel consumption (Tg dry matter, DM) and temporally integrated Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) net photosynthesis (PSN) (Tg, which can be converted into pre-fire fuel load estimates). We find very strong linear relationships over southern hemisphere Africa (mean r = 0.96) that are partly biome dependent, though the FRE-derived fuel consumptions are far lower than those derived from the accumulated PSN, with mean fuel consumptions per unit area calculated as 0.14 kg DM m−2. In the northern hemisphere, FRE-derived fuel consumption is also far lower and characterized by a weaker linear relationship (mean r = 0.76). Differences in the parameterization of the biome look up table (BLUT) used by the MOD17 product over Northern Africa may be responsible but further research is required to reconcile these differences. The strong relationship between fire FRE and pre-fire fuel load in southern hemisphere Africa is encouraging and highlights the value of geostationary FRP retrievals in providing a metric that relates very well to fuel consumption and fire emission variations. The fact that the estimated fuel consumed is only a small fraction of the fuel available suggests underestimation of FRE by Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) and/or that the FRE-to-fuel consumption conversion factor of 0.37 MJ kg−1 needs to be adjusted for application to SEVIRI. Future geostationary imaging sensors, such as on the forthcoming Meteosat Third Generation (MTG), will reduce the impact of this underestimation through its ability to detect even smaller and shorter-lived fires than can the current second generation Meteosat.

Estimating direct carbon emissions from Canadian wildland fires

2007 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 593 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. de Groot ◽  
Robert Landry ◽  
Werner A. Kurz ◽  
Kerry R. Anderson ◽  
Peter Englefield ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Consumption ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Forest Type ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Fuel Load ◽  
Forest Sector ◽  
National Scale ◽  
Test Procedures ◽  
Fire Emissions ◽  
Area Burned

In support of Canada’s National Forest Carbon Monitoring, Accounting and Reporting System, a project was initiated to develop and test procedures for estimating direct carbon emissions from fires. The Canadian Wildland Fire Information System (CWFIS) provides the infrastructure for these procedures. Area burned and daily fire spread estimates are derived from satellite products. Spatially and temporally explicit indices of burning conditions for each fire are calculated by CWFIS using fire weather data. The Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forest Sector (CBM-CFS3) provides detailed forest type and leading species information, as well as pre-fire fuel load data. The Boreal Fire Effects Model calculates fuel consumption for different live biomass and dead organic matter pools in each burned cell according to fuel type, fuel load, burning conditions, and resulting fire behaviour. Carbon emissions are calculated from fuel consumption. CWFIS summarises the data in the form of disturbance matrices and provides spatially explicit estimates of area burned for national reporting. CBM-CFS3 integrates, at the national scale, these fire data with data on forest management and other disturbances. The methodology for estimating fire emissions was tested using a large-fire pilot study. A framework to implement the procedures at the national scale is described.

Impacts of Prescribed Fires on Air Quality over the Southeastern United States in Spring Based on Modeling and Ground/Satellite Measurements

2008 ◽  
Vol 42 (22) ◽  
pp. 8401-8406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tao Zeng ◽  
Yuhang Wang ◽  
Yasuko Yoshida ◽  
Di Tian ◽  
Amistead G. Russell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
Prescribed Fires ◽  
Satellite Measurements

Fire Alters Emergence of Invasive Plant Species from Soil Surface-Deposited Seeds

Weed Science ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 57 (3) ◽  
pp. 304-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lance T. Vermeire ◽  
Matthew J. Rinella
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Invasive Plant ◽  
Seedling Emergence ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
Fire Regimes ◽  
Fire Effects ◽  
Fuel Load ◽  
Spotted Knapweed ◽  
Plant Seed ◽  
Fuel Loads

Restoration of historic fire regimes is complicated by concerns about exotic plant invasions, yet little is known of how the two may interact. Seeds of Japanese brome, spotted knapweed, Russian knapweed, and leafy spurge were subjected to fire at six fuel loads (100 to 700 g m−2) and a nonburned control. Fires were simulated with field-cured grass and time–temperature profiles were developed from thermocouples at the soil surface. Emergence was determined by species and fuel load in growth chambers. Fuel load explained 98% of variation in mean heat dosage and emergence decreased with increasing fuel load across species. Emergence was reduced 79 to 88% relative to nonburned treatment with 100 g m−2of fuel and at least 97% with 200 g m−2of fuel. Emergence probabilities were less than 0.01 for all species but spotted knapweed with a 300 g m−2fuel load. Results indicate high potential for fire to disrupt the life cycle of invasive species through direct seed mortality. The relationship between fuel load and seedling emergence provides good predictability of fire effects on surface-deposited seeds. A single fire is unlikely to eradicate many invasive species because they often produce abundant seeds and some will undoubtedly escape fire. However, abrupt reductions in seedling emergence with relatively light fuel loads indicate that fire may be an effective tool for increasing mortality of invasive plant seed across a broad range of habitats.

Fire effects on post-invasion spread of Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera) in wet pine flatwood ecosystems in the southeastern United States

2021 ◽  
Vol 500 ◽  
pp. 119658
Author(s):  
Zhaofei Fan ◽  
Aiyun Song ◽  
Linshui Dong ◽  
Heather D. Alexander ◽  
Shaoyang Yang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
Fire Effects ◽  
Triadica Sebifera ◽  
Chinese Tallow
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