RxCADRE (Combustion-Atmospheric Dynamics Research Experiments)

Project Description

The Prescribed Fire Combustion and Atmospheric Dynamics Research Experiment (RxCADRE) provided an opportunity for leading scientists to come together and collect fire datasets on seven large operational prescribed fires in 2008 and 2011 at Eglin Air Force Base and the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center in the southeastern United States.

In 2012, the Joint Fire Science Program sponsored continuation and expansion of this effort to include six small replicate and three operational prescribed burn blocks in longleaf pine ecosystems on Eglin Air Force Base.

During 2013 and 2014, the quality of the data was assured, and it was reduced and formatted for placement into the Forest Service Research Data Archive that is accessible to all. Data collection and preliminary results have been presented at several conferences, workshops, training courses and in a 10-paper special issue of the International Journal of Wildland Fire.

Purpose and Scope

Scientists found that a lack of co-located, multiscale measures of prefire fuels, active fire processes, and postfire effects hinders their ability to tackle fundamental fire science questions. Conducting this level of interdisciplinary collaborative research requires large-scale field experiments and would pose several logistical challenges.

Implementation

As one of the larger collaborative fire research efforts in many years, 90 scientists from among the five U.S. Forest Service research stations, national and international universities and research organizations, NASA and the U.S. Air Force worked on the Prescribed Fire Combustion and Atmospheric Dynamics Research Experiment (RxCADRE) from 2008 to 2012. Together, they conducted large-scale interdisciplinary field experiments before, during and after active burning periods of prescribed fires. The goal was to develop synergies between fuel, atmospheric conditions, fire behavior, radiative energy, smoke generation, and fire effects measurements for fire model development and verification.

During 2013 and 2014, data were quality assured, reduced, and formatted for placement into the U.S. Forest Service Research Data Archive that is accessible to all for purposes of evaluating and improving fire models and advancing knowledge in the area of wildland fire science. A lot of new knowledge resulted from the RxCADRE that is critical for understanding fine-scale fire behavior and fire effects, which in turn is needed to improve existing fire modelling.