Treesearch

Detailed field measurements and simulations of three-dimensional flow structure were used to develop a conceptual model to explain the sustainability of self-formed pool-riffle sequences in gravel-bed rivers. The analysis was conducted at the Red River Wildlife Management Area in Idaho, USA, and enabled characterization of the flow structure through two consecutive pool-riffle sequences, including: identification of jet concentration and dissipation zones, and the development of local turbulence features (i.e. vertical and horizontal eddies) under different flow conditions. Three-dimensiona...

The fire characteristics chart is a graphical method of presenting U.S. National Fire Danger Rating indices or primary surface or crown fire behavior characteristics. A desktop computer application has been developed to produce fire characteristics charts in a format suitable for inclusion in reports and presentations. Many options include change of scales, colors, labels, and legend. The fire danger fire characteristics chart displays the relationship among SC, ERC, and BI by plotting the three values as a single point. A chart can be used to compare years, months, weather stations, and...

The purpose of this study is to investigate how varying amounts of MPB-induced tree mortality affects the amount of crown fuels consumed and the fire intensity across a range of lodgepole pine stands of different tree density and spatial arrangements during the early stages of a bark beetle outbreak. Unlike past studies which have relied on semi-empirical or empirical mathematical prediction models to predict surface fire behavior and crown fire hazard this study utilizes the Wildland Urban Interface Dynamics Simulator which is a spatially dependent physics based model that does not assume...

This project mapped wildland fire potential (WFP) for the conterminous United States by using the large fire simulation system developed for Fire Program Analysis (FPA) System. The large fire simulation system, referred to here as LFSim, consists of modules for weather generation, fire occurrence, fire suppression, and fire growth modeling. Weather was generated with daily, seasonal, and spatial variation from numerous weather stations around the United States that contain records for 1 to 3 decades. Large fire occurrence probabilities were calculated by logistic regression based on...

Firefighter Math is a web based interactive resource that was developed to help prepare wildland fire personnel for math based training courses. The website can also be used as a refresher for fire calculations including slope, flame length, relative humidity, flow rates, unit conversion, etc. The website is designed to start with basic math refresher skills and advance to topics that directly apply to advanced wildland fire calculations. Firefighter math was established as a tutorial, and users are encouraged to focus on chapters that are most relevant.

Agency managers are often faced with making difficult wildland fire management decisions based on collating a significant amount of information regarding a fire. Supporting the decisions is understanding how long an incident may persist, especially if the fire has potential for resource benefits. Analysis of historical season ending events has occurred since the mid-1990’s and was initially incorporated into the Rare Event Risk Assessment Process (RERAP) computer program. Definition of the season ending event has always been subjective and typically included a substantial rain event across...

The 1910 fires of western Montana and northern Idaho have received much publicity in the popular media but little scientific attention regarding the factors that contribute to fire behavior and fire danger. Here we present information surrounding the weather, and reconstructed measures of Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI), Energy Release Component (ERC), and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) during the 1910 fire season in the northern Rockies. KBDI and ERC were used to assess local and regional fire danger related to fuel conditions while PDSI and PDO...

Globally prescribed burning is widely used for agro-forestry, restoration, and conservation to modify species composition and stand structure. Commonly stated goals of prescribed burns include to reduce hazardous fuels, improve species’ habitat, reduce the potential for severe fires in the wildland urban interface or protect municipal watersheds. Treatments may focus primarily on modifying conditions at the stand level or to change the mix of mosaic patches at the landscape level. Given the wide range of vegetation/fuel types, management objectives, and human resources it is not possible...

We are in the process of constructing a lightning ignition model specific to the Northern Rockies using fire occurrence, lightning strike, ecoregion, and historical weather, NFDRS (National Fire Danger Rating System), lightning efficiency and lightning "possibility" data. Daily grids for each of these categories were reconstructed for the 2003 fire season (184 days- May through October) in an area defined by the boundaries of USFS Region 1. Logistic Regression analysis will be used with the binary dependent variable being the occurrence of a lightning ignited fire that has been recorded to...

Technological advances in the area of fuel and wildland fire management have created a need for effective decision support tools and technology training. The National Interagency Fuels Committee and LANDFIRE have chartered a team to develop science-based learning tools for assessment of fire and fuels and to provide online training and technology transfer to help managers implement fuels, fire, and vegetation assessment technology for fire risk mitigation and ecosystem restoration. The team is called the National Interagency Fuels, Fire, and Vegetation Technology Transfer (NIFTT). NIFTT...