scholarly journals Analysis of inventory data derived fuel characteristics and fire behavior under various environmental conditions.

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Andreu ◽  
William Crolley ◽  
Bernard Paresol
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Inventory Data ◽  
Fuel Characteristics

scholarly journals Developing Fire Behavior Fuel Models for the Wildland–Urban Interface in Anchorage, Alaska

2008 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 149-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Cheyette ◽  
T. Scott Rupp ◽  
Sue Rodman
Keyword(s):  
Bark Beetle ◽  
Forest Type ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Inventory Data ◽  
Wildland Urban Interface ◽  
Fuels Reduction ◽  
Spruce Bark Beetle ◽  
Spruce Bark ◽  
Modeling Systems ◽  
Fuel Models

Abstract Fire behavior modeling systems are playing an increasingly important role in identifying areas of the wildland–urban interface (WUI) that could support intense and fast-moving wildfires. The modeling systems also can be used to prioritize areas for fuels reduction treatments. We used forest inventory data to create custom fire behavior fuel models for the Anchorage, Alaska, WUI—an area strongly impacted by a recent spruce bark beetle (Dendroctonus rufipennis) infestation. Eight custom fuel models were developed including a custom fuel model for a spruce bark beetle impacted forest type. NEXUS simulations indicate that the custom fuel models better describe forest structure and predict fire behavior than do parameterized standard fuel models previously used by local fire managers. Rate of spread and fireline ranged from 1–321 chains/hour and 1–2,549 Btu/ft per second, respectively, for the custom fuel models compared with 1–70 chains/hour and 1–7,929 Btu/ft per second, respectively, for the parameterized standard fuel models. Our study shows that it is both possible and feasible to create custom fuel models directly from fuels inventory data. This achievement has broad implications for land managers, particularly managers of the boreal forest, a region that is susceptible to wildfires but also home to a growing human population and increasing amounts of development.

scholarly journals Evaluating Potential Fire Behavior in Lodgepole Pine-Dominated Forests after a Mountain Pine Beetle Epidemic in North-Central Colorado

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 101-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer G. Klutsch ◽  
Mike A. Battaglia ◽  
Daniel R. West ◽  
Sheryl L. Costello ◽  
José F. Negrón
Keyword(s):  
Mountain Pine Beetle ◽  
Tree Mortality ◽  
Lodgepole Pine ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Crown Fire ◽  
Tree Species Composition ◽  
Surface Fire ◽  
Mountain Pine ◽  
Pine Beetle ◽  
Fuel Characteristics

Abstract A mountain pine beetle outbreak in Colorado lodgepole pine forests has altered stand and fuel characteristics that affect potential fire behavior. Using the Fire and Fuels Extension to the Forest Vegetation Simulator, potential fire behavior was modeled for uninfested and mountain pine beetle-affected plots 7 years after outbreak initiation and 10 and 80% projected tree fall using measured and projected fuel and stand characteristics. Under 90th percentile weather conditions, uninfested plots exhibited proportionally more crown fire than infested plots. Plots predicted to have crown fire were composed mainly of nonhost conifer species and had a lower and more continuous canopy than infested plots. Where surface fire was predicted to occur, live lodgepole pine was the only conifer present, and plots had significantly lower tree mortality from fire than plots predicted to have crown fire. Mountain pine beetle-induced changes in stand and fuel characteristics resulted in increased intensity of surface fire behavior. Furthermore, with 80% infested tree fall, potential smoke production was predicted to be higher. Tree species composition of stands pre and postbark beetle outbreak is important when identifying mountain pine beetle-caused changes to potential fire behavior.

scholarly journals Studying wildfire behavior using FIRETEC

2002 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodman Linn ◽  
Jon Reisner ◽  
Jonah J. Colman ◽  
Judith Winterkamp
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Complex Terrain ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Meteorological Conditions ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Behavior Model ◽  
Complex Processes ◽  
Wildfire Modeling

A coupled atmospheric/wildfire behavior model is described that utilizes physics-based process models to represent wildfire behavior. Five simulations are presented, four of which are highly idealized situations that are meant to illustrate some of the dependencies of the model on environmental conditions. The fifth simulation consists of a fire burning in complex terrain with non-homogeneous vegetation and realistic meteorological conditions. The simulated fire behavior develops out of the coupling of a set of very complex processes and not from prescribed rules based on empirical data. This represents a new direction in wildfire modeling that we believe will eventually help decision makers and land managers do their jobs more effectively.

scholarly journals Canopy fuel characteristics and potential crown fire behavior in Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensisMill.) forests

2007 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioannis D. Mitsopoulos ◽  
Alexandros P. Dimitrakopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Aleppo Pine ◽  
Crown Fire ◽  
Fuel Characteristics

Reformulation of Rothermel’s wildland fire behaviour model for heterogeneous fuelbedsThis article is one of a selection of papers published in the Special Forum on the Fuel Characteristic Classification System.

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (12) ◽  
pp. 2438-2455 ◽  
Author(s):  
David V. Sandberg ◽  
Cynthia L. Riccardi ◽  
Mark D. Schaaf
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Classification System ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Fire Spread ◽  
Fuel Moisture ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Spread Model ◽  
Fuel Characteristic ◽  
Fire Spread Model

The Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS) includes equations that calculate energy release and one-dimensional spread rate in quasi-steady state fires in heterogeneous but spatially-uniform wildland fuelbeds, using a reformulation of the widely used Rothermel fire spread model. This reformulation provides an automated means to predict fire behavior under any environmental conditions in any natural, modified, or simulated wildland fuelbed. The formulation may be used to compare potential fire behavior between fuelbeds that differ in time, space, or as a result of management, and provides a means to classify and map fuelbeds based on their expected surface fire behavior under any set of defined environmental conditions (i.e., effective wind speed and fuel moisture content). Model reformulation preserves the basic mathematical framework of the Rothermel fire spread model, reinterprets data from two of the original basic equations in his model, and offers a new conceptual formulation that allows the direct use of inventoried fuel properties instead of stylized fuel models. Alternative methods for calculating the effect of wind speed and fuel moisture, based on more recent literature, are also provided. This reformulation provides a framework for the incremental improvement in quantifying fire behaviour parameters in complex fuelbeds and for modeling fire spread.

Fuel characteristics of arctic plant species and simulated plant community flammability by Rothermel's model

1981 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 898-907 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. W. Sylvester ◽  
Ross W. Wein
Keyword(s):  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Volume Ratio ◽  
Woody Species ◽  
Caloric Content ◽  
Mackenzie Delta ◽  
Vaccinium Uliginosum ◽  
Forest Tundra ◽  
Calamagrostis Canadensis ◽  
Epilobium Angustifolium ◽  
Fuel Characteristics

The relative fuel-potentials of 12 northern tundra and forest–tundra ground species of the Mackenzie delta area were evaluated from measured fuel characteristics by simulating a test fire with the Rothermel (1972) fire behavior model. The relative importance of the fuel parameters were in decreasing order: moisture content, biomass, fineness (surface/volume ratio), packing ratio, silica-free ash content, and caloric content. The fuel-potential ratings of the vascular species and of the communities were differentiated primarily by their leaf characteristics. Dead leaves of Calamagrostis canadensis and Eriophorum vaginatum constituted the most flammable fuels measured. Evergreen Ledum palustre and Empetrum nigrum were clearly differentiated from the live vascular species by higher flammability ratings. Of the cryptogam fuels, Cladonia-type lichens were rated intermediate between the above evergreen ericoids and the deciduous woody species (Betula glandulosa, Vaccinium uliginosum, Salix glauca), while Sphagnum sp. was rated comparable to the latter groups. Epilobium angustifolium received the lowest ratings of all species.Subject to the limitations with respect to ether-extractive contents, the relative fuel potential of tundra and forest–tundra plant communities can be rated on measured fuel characteristics, community composition, and the criteria of the Rothermel model. Possible applications of this study were raised, particularly the use of relatively nonflammable plants in land management.

scholarly journals Gis-based computer code for the evaluation of forest fire spread

2007 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Karpov ◽  
Henry Telitsyn ◽  
Nadezhda Efimova ◽  
Victor Berdonosov ◽  
Sergey Popovich
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Computer Code ◽  
Fire Spread ◽  
Behavior Prediction ◽  
Inventory Data ◽  
Simulation Code ◽  
Data Approximation ◽  
Model Classification

The approach to the implementation of a computer code, based on the geographic information system, for the forest fire behavior prediction is presented. Consecutive steps are considered, which include the formulation of fire spread mathematical model, classification of vegetation fuels using the forest inventory data, approximation of fire perimeter propagation, and overall arrangement of fire simulation code. .

Characterizing fuels in the 21st Century

2001 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 381 ◽  
Author(s):  
David V. Sandberg ◽  
Roger D. Ottmar ◽  
Geoffrey H. Cushon
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Northwest ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Structural Complexity ◽  
Environmental Research ◽  
Characteristic Classes ◽  
Research Station ◽  
Ecological Principles ◽  
Fuel Characteristics ◽  
Vegetation Form ◽  
Fuel Characteristic

This paper was presented at the conference ‘Integrating spatial technologies and ecological principles for a new age in fire management’, Boise, Idaho, USA, June 1999 The ongoing development of sophisticated fire behavior and effects models has demonstrated the need for a comprehensive system of fuel classification that more accurately captures the structural complexity and geographic diversity of fuelbeds. The Fire and Environmental Research Applications Team (FERA) of the USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, is developing a national system of fuel characteristic classification (FCC). The system is designed to accommodate researchers and managers operating at a variety of scales, and who have access to a variety of kinds of input data. Users can generate fuel characteristics by accessing existing fuelbed descriptions (fuelbed prototypes) using generic information such as cover type or vegetation form. Fuelbed prototypes will provide the best available predictions of the kind, quality and abundance of fuels. Users can accept these default settings or modify some or all of them using more detailed information about vegetation structure and fuel biomass. When the user has completed editing the fuelbed data, the FCC system calculates or infers quantitative fuel characteristics (physical, chemical, and structural properties) and probable fire parameters specific to that fuelbed. Each user-described fuelbed is also assigned to one of approximately 192 stylized fuel characteristic classes.

Vibration Isolator System for Electron Microscope

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 182-183
Author(s):  
K. Ohi ◽  
M. Mizuno ◽  
T. Kasai ◽  
Y. Ohkura ◽  
K. Mizuno ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Magnetic Fields ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Vibration Isolator ◽  
Air Conditioners ◽  
Vibration Isolators ◽  
Large Size ◽  
Electron Microscopes

In recent years, with electron microscopes coming into wider use, their installation environments do not necessarily give their performance full play. Their environmental conditions include air-conditioners, magnetic fields, and vibrations. We report a jointly developed entirely new vibration isolator which is effective against the vibrations transmitted from the floor.Conventionally, large-sized vibration isolators which need the digging of a pit have been used. These vibration isolators, however, are large present problems of installation and maintenance because of their large-size.Thus, we intended to make a vibration isolator which1) eliminates the need for changing the installation room2) eliminates the need of maintenance and3) are compact in size and easily installable.

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