scholarly journals A Comparison of Fire Weather Indices with MODIS Fire Days for the Natural Regions of Alaska

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert H. Ziel ◽  
Peter A. Bieniek ◽  
Uma S. Bhatt ◽  
Heidi Strader ◽  
T. Scott Rupp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vapor Pressure Deficit ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Lag Time ◽  
Fuel Moisture ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Potential Alternative ◽  
Forest Fire Danger ◽  
Boreal Landscapes

Research Highlights: Flammability of wildland fuels is a key factor influencing risk-based decisions related to preparedness, response, and safety in Alaska. However, without effective measures of current and expected flammability, the expected likelihood of active and problematic wildfires in the future is difficult to assess and prepare for. This study evaluates the effectiveness of diverse indices to capture high-risk fires. Indicators of drought and atmospheric drivers are assessed along with the operational Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS). Background and Objectives: In this study, 13 different indicators of atmospheric conditions, fuel moisture, and flammability are compared to determine how effective each is at identifying thresholds and trends for significant wildfire activity. Materials and Methods: Flammability indices are compared with remote sensing characterizations that identify where and when fire activity has occurred. Results: Among these flammability indicators, conventional tools calibrated to wildfire thresholds (Duff Moisture Code (DMC) and Buildup Index (BUI)), as well as measures of atmospheric forcing (Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD)), performed best at representing the conditions favoring initiation and size of significant wildfire events. Conventional assessments of seasonal severity and overall landscape flammability using DMC and BUI can be continued with confidence. Fire models that incorporate BUI in overall fire potential and fire behavior assessments are likely to produce effective results throughout boreal landscapes in Alaska. One novel result is the effectiveness of VPD throughout the state, making it a potential alternative to FFMC among the short-lag/1-day indices. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the societal value of research that joins new academic research results with operational needs. Developing the framework to do this more effectively will bring science to action with a shorter lag time, which is critical as we face growing challenges from a changing climate.

Fire behavior in aspen slash fuels as related to the Canadian Fire Weather Index

1982 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1028-1029 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin E. Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Prescribed Fires ◽  
Fire Weather ◽  
Fuel Moisture ◽  
Trembling Aspen ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Weather Index ◽  
Fire Weather Index ◽  
Forest Fire Danger

The characteristics and short-term results of experimental prescribed fires in 2-year-old trembling aspen (Populustremuloides Michx.) logging slash in northern Minnesota have been described by D. A. Perala (1974. Can. J. For. Res. 4: 222–228). The associated burning conditions are expressed here in terms of the weather-dependent numerical fuel moisture codes and fire behavior indexes of the Canadian system of forest fire danger rating.

Referring academic library chat reference patrons: how subject librarians decide

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula R. Dempsey
Keyword(s):  
Information Literacy ◽  
Academic Library ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Subject Area ◽  
Empirical Examination ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Reference Services ◽  
Chat Reference ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Doctoral Universities

Purpose The purpose of this study is to learn what factors liaison librarians in academic research libraries consider in determining whether to refer chat reference patrons to subject specialists. Design/methodology/approach Subject specialists were asked what policies guided their decisions to refer to a specialist and then assessed unreferred chat session transcripts both within and outside their specializations to determine need for a referral. Findings Few respondents were guided by formal policies. Contrary to an initial hypothesis, subject area was not a key factor in referring chat. A broader set of criteria included reference interviewing, provision of relevant resources and information literacy instruction. Respondents valued both the depth that subject specialists can provide to reference interactions and the ability of a skilled generalist to support information literacy. Research limitations/implications Findings are most applicable to large, public doctoral universities with liaison librarian programs. Assignment of respondents to subject specialist categories was complicated by their broad range of background and expertise. Practical implications The study contributes new understanding of referrals to subject specialists who have potential to guide development of formal referral policies in academic library virtual reference services. Originality/value The study is the first empirical examination of chat reference referral decisions.

Ocean Climate: “Off the Shelf”

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rick Cole ◽  
Jeff Kinder ◽  
Weidong Yu
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Ocean Climate ◽  
Data Output ◽  
Basic Parameters ◽  
Additional Water ◽  
Scientists And Engineers ◽  
Additional Support

AbstractMeasuring ocean physics and atmospheric conditions at the sea-surface has been taking place for decades. The basic parameters measured remain with additional water column characteristics and meteorology added to data streams as technology advances within the community. A transition of this technology to the private sector from government and academic research institutions has occurred with additional support from innovative individual and group efforts in the field of ocean instrumentation. Due to licensing agreements between institutions and corporations along with entrepreneurial patents, scientists and engineers now have the resources available “off the shelf” (private sector purchase) to pursue and enhance the challenging task of measuring our offshore environment. As a result, long-term monitoring of ocean processes and changes has become more accessible to the research community at large. This paper describes one such project where original equipment manufactured instrumentation was integrated together to mirror the data output from government-funded monitoring systems on multinational ocean climate programs. RDSEA International, along with Down East Instrumentation, have developed a hybrid monitoring system using easily accessible off-the-shelf components.

scholarly journals Thermodynamics of Pyrocumulus: A Conceptual Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 146 (8) ◽  
pp. 2579-2598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin J. Tory ◽  
William Thurston ◽  
Jeffrey D. Kepert
Keyword(s):  
Full Range ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Neutral Buoyancy ◽  
Lightning Strikes ◽  
Plume Temperature ◽  
Conceptual Study ◽  
Lifting Condensation Level ◽  
In Fire ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract In favorable atmospheric conditions, fires can produce pyrocumulonimbus cloud (pyroCb) in the form of deep convective columns resembling conventional thunderstorms, which may be accompanied by strong inflow, dangerous downbursts, and lightning strikes that can produce dangerous changes in fire behavior. PyroCb formation conditions are not well understood and are difficult to forecast. This paper presents a theoretical study of the thermodynamics of fire plumes to better understand the influence of a range of factors on plume condensation. Plume gases are considered to be undiluted at the fire source and approach 100% dilution at the plume top (neutral buoyancy). Plume condensation height changes are considered for this full range of dilution and for a given set of factors that include environmental temperature and humidity, fire temperature, and fire-moisture-to-heat ratios. The condensation heights are calculated and plotted as saturation point (SP) curves on thermodynamic diagrams. The position and slope of the SP curves provide insight into how plume condensation is affected by the environment thermodynamics and ratios of fire heat to moisture production. Plume temperature traces from large-eddy model simulations added to the diagrams provide additional insight into plume condensation heights and plume buoyancy at condensation. SP curves added to a mixed layer lifting condensation level on standard thermodynamic diagrams can be used to identify the minimum plume condensation height and buoyancy required for deep, moist, free convection to develop, which will aid pyroCb prediction.

scholarly journals Improvement of fire danger rating and vegetation fire behaviour prediction on protected areas

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 00040
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Volokitina ◽  
Dina Nazimova ◽  
Tatiana Sofronova ◽  
Mikhail Korets
Keyword(s):  
Protected Areas ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Fire Spread ◽  
Fire Effects ◽  
Nature Reserves ◽  
Fire Danger ◽  
Behavior Prediction ◽  
Forest Fire Danger ◽  
Economic Use

Protected areas (PAs) are established to conserve biological diversity, to maintain nature complexes and objects in their natural condition. Strict nature reserves prevail in Russia by their total area. The whole nature complex is forever extracted from economic use in nature reserves. Here it is prohibited to pursue any activity which might disturb or damage the nature complexes. Even under the existing strict protection from anthropogenic ignition sources, vegetation fires do occur on their territory. Besides, lightnings − these natural ignition sources − are impossible to exclude. Since large destructive fires are impermissible in nature reserves, the later especially need vegetation fire behavior prediction for fire management. Fire behavior prediction includes fire spread rate, development (from surface fire into crown or ground one) and fire effects. All this is necessary for taking optimal decisions on how to control each occurring fire and how to suppress it. The Sukachev Institute of Forest SB RAS has developed a method to improve forest fire danger rating and a technique of vegetation fire behavior prediction using vegetation fuel maps (VF maps).

Evaluation of full scale thermal solidification processes implemented in Tokyo lightweight aggregate, slag and brick

2000 ◽  
Vol 41 (8) ◽  
pp. 69-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Okuna ◽  
A. Yamada
Keyword(s):  
Sewage Sludge ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Lightweight Aggregate ◽  
Full Scale ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Research Subject ◽  
Engineering Process ◽  
Solidification Processes ◽  
Potential Alternative ◽  
Cement Manufacturing

Tokyo has an experience in operation of full-scale thermal solidification processes for around 10 years. They include artificial lightweight aggregates, slag, brick, and sludge fuel (dried by Carver Greenfield process). Many efforts were concentrated on improving the processes for the years. As a result, the thermal solidification of sewage sludge is no more academic research subject, but is a standardized engineering process. Anyof them are able to be locally implemented depending on specific requests. Among them, the brick seems to be the best choice from the viewpoint of economy. On the other hand, a potential alternative is that the sewage sludge could be served as raw material for Portland cement manufacturing process.

scholarly journals Fuel moisture content enhances nonadditive effects of plant mixtures on flammability and fire behavior

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (17) ◽  
pp. 3830-3841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke G. Blauw ◽  
Niki Wensink ◽  
Lisette Bakker ◽  
Richard S. P. Logtestijn ◽  
Rien Aerts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Moisture Content ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Fuel Moisture ◽  
Fuel Moisture Content ◽  
Nonadditive Effects

scholarly journals Effects of canopy midstory management and fuel moisture on wildfire behavior

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tirtha Banerjee ◽  
Warren Heilman ◽  
Scott Goodrick ◽  
Kevin Hiers ◽  
Rodman Linn
Keyword(s):  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Fuel Moisture ◽  
Fine Scale ◽  
Mean Flow ◽  
Prescribed Burns ◽  
Fuel Heterogeneity ◽  
Fire Exclusion ◽  
Intensity Spread

Wildfires burning more and more areas in North America can partly be attributed to fire exclusion activities in the past few decades which led to higher fuel accumulation. Mechanical thinning and prescribed burns are effective techniques to manage fuel loads and to establish a higher degree of control over future fire risk as well as to restore fire prone landscapes to their natural states of succession. However, given the complexity of interactions between fine scale fuel heterogeneity and wind, it is difficult to assess the success of thinning operations and prescribed burns. The present work addresses this issue systematically by simulating a fire starting from a simple fire line and moving through a vegetative environment where the midstory has been cleared in different degrees, leading to a canopy with almost no midstory, another with a sparse midstory and another with a thick midstory. The simulations are conducted for these three canopies under two different conditions, where the fuel moisture is high and where it is low. These six sets of simulations show widely different fire behavior, in terms of fire intensity, spread rate and consumption. To understand the physical mechanisms that lead to these differences, detailed analyses are conducted to look at wind patterns, mean flow and turbulent fluxes of momentum and energy. The analyses also lead to improved understanding of processes leading to high intensity crowning behavior in presence of a dense midstory. Moreover, this work highlights the importance of considering fine scale fuel heterogeneity, seasonality, wind effects and the associated fire-canopy-atmosphere interactions while considering prescribed burns and forest management operations.

scholarly journals Firefighter Observations of “Surprising” Fire Behavior in Mountain Pine Beetle-Attacked Lodgepole Pine Forests

Fire ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Moriarty ◽  
Antony S. Cheng ◽  
Chad M. Hoffman ◽  
Stuart P. Cottrell ◽  
Martin E. Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Mountain Pine Beetle ◽  
Lodgepole Pine ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Pine Forests ◽  
Fuel Moisture ◽  
Crown Fire ◽  
Gray Phase ◽  
Mountain Pine ◽  
Pine Beetle ◽  
Moisture Conditions

The recent mountain pine beetle outbreak affecting lodgepole pine forests in the Rocky Mountains has created a novel fire environment for wildland firefighters. This paper presents results from an examination of firefighters’ observations of fire behavior in post-outbreak lodgepole pine forests, with a focus on what they considered surprising from a fire behavior standpoint and how this in turn affected their suppression tactics. The surprises in fire behavior experienced by firefighters during the red phase of post-outbreak forests included an elevated level of fire spread and intensity under moderate weather and fuel moisture conditions, increased spotting, and faster surface-to-crown fire transitions with limited or no ladder fuels. Unexpectedly, during the gray phase in mountain pine beetle-attacked stands, crown ignition and crown fire propagation was observed for short periods of time. Firefighters are now more likely to expect to see active fire behavior in nearly all fire weather and fuel moisture conditions, not just under critically dry and windy situations, and across all mountain pine beetle attack phases, not just the red phase. Firefighters changed their suppression tactics by adopting indirect methods due to the potential fire behavior and tree-fall hazards associated with mountain pine beetle-attacked lodgepole pine forests.

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