Consumption of the organic layer in southern Sweden during fire events and correlations with the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) risk ratings

The occurrence and thickness of organic layers in forests can significantly influence fire behavior. Complete understanding of the consumption of these layers during fire events is a knowledge gap that exists in southern Sweden. In this region, sixteen burned sites were measured for fermentation an...

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Autor principal: Mccallum Jordan, Blake
Formato: H2
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: SLU/Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre 2013
Materias:
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author Mccallum Jordan, Blake
author_browse Mccallum Jordan, Blake
author_facet Mccallum Jordan, Blake
author_sort Mccallum Jordan, Blake
collection Epsilon Archive for Student Projects
description The occurrence and thickness of organic layers in forests can significantly influence fire behavior. Complete understanding of the consumption of these layers during fire events is a knowledge gap that exists in southern Sweden. In this region, sixteen burned sites were measured for fermentation and humus layer thickness. These measurements were compared to those collected on an adjacent non-burned control site. Consumption was calculated to correlate with the numerical rating components of Duff Moisture Code (DMC), Drought Code (DC), Build-Up Index (BUI), and Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) of the overall Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS). The FWI numerical ratings focused upon in this study were found to be appropriate indicators for relative amounts of fermentation and humus organic layer consumption attributed to fire events in southern Sweden. In particular, variation of fermentation layer consumption was most clearly associated with the DMC, humus layer consumption with the DC, and total (fermentation and humus) organic layer consumption with both the DC and the BUI. On sites where root exposure and tree mortality were noted, consumption of the organic layer was relatively high and the DMC and DC numerical ratings were categorized as extreme or high risks. Site characteristics, in particular microtopography and vegetation, were significant factors in accounting for the amount of consumption of these organic layers. The efficacy of the FWI fire risk ratings for indicating organic layer consumption was bolstered when coupled with these site characteristics. Additionally, planning smoldering fires for forest ecological or management goals is facilitated by the FWI values.
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institution Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
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publishDate 2013
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spelling RepoSLU58452013-07-05T13:46:42Z Consumption of the organic layer in southern Sweden during fire events and correlations with the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) risk ratings Mccallum Jordan, Blake fire organic layer consumption Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI), Sweden The occurrence and thickness of organic layers in forests can significantly influence fire behavior. Complete understanding of the consumption of these layers during fire events is a knowledge gap that exists in southern Sweden. In this region, sixteen burned sites were measured for fermentation and humus layer thickness. These measurements were compared to those collected on an adjacent non-burned control site. Consumption was calculated to correlate with the numerical rating components of Duff Moisture Code (DMC), Drought Code (DC), Build-Up Index (BUI), and Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) of the overall Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS). The FWI numerical ratings focused upon in this study were found to be appropriate indicators for relative amounts of fermentation and humus organic layer consumption attributed to fire events in southern Sweden. In particular, variation of fermentation layer consumption was most clearly associated with the DMC, humus layer consumption with the DC, and total (fermentation and humus) organic layer consumption with both the DC and the BUI. On sites where root exposure and tree mortality were noted, consumption of the organic layer was relatively high and the DMC and DC numerical ratings were categorized as extreme or high risks. Site characteristics, in particular microtopography and vegetation, were significant factors in accounting for the amount of consumption of these organic layers. The efficacy of the FWI fire risk ratings for indicating organic layer consumption was bolstered when coupled with these site characteristics. Additionally, planning smoldering fires for forest ecological or management goals is facilitated by the FWI values. SLU/Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre 2013 H2 eng https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/5845/
spellingShingle fire
organic layer consumption
Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI),
Sweden
Mccallum Jordan, Blake
Consumption of the organic layer in southern Sweden during fire events and correlations with the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) risk ratings
title Consumption of the organic layer in southern Sweden during fire events and correlations with the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) risk ratings
title_full Consumption of the organic layer in southern Sweden during fire events and correlations with the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) risk ratings
title_fullStr Consumption of the organic layer in southern Sweden during fire events and correlations with the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) risk ratings
title_full_unstemmed Consumption of the organic layer in southern Sweden during fire events and correlations with the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) risk ratings
title_short Consumption of the organic layer in southern Sweden during fire events and correlations with the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) risk ratings
title_sort consumption of the organic layer in southern sweden during fire events and correlations with the canadian forest fire weather index (fwi) risk ratings
topic fire
organic layer consumption
Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI),
Sweden