All About the FHAES Project

The original DOS-based FHX2 program written by Dr. Henri Grissino-Mayer analyzes chronologies of fire scars developed from tree-ring data (and can be used to analyze chronologies of other disturbance events). The program, written in Pascal and using proprietary graphics software, provides the means to enter and store fire history data, graph and plot these data, statistically analyze the fire chronologies, and evaluate the relationship between fire occurrence and climate condition. This program is very widely used and considered to be the standard for fire history analysis, but needs to be updated.

The goal of the re-design project is to redevelop and enhance components of the FHX2 program, so that they are web-based, user-friendly, and easily accessible to a broad range of users on the Internet. Our working group [Elaine Kennedy Sutherland (1), Henri Grissino-Mayer (2), Wendy Gross (3), Michael Hartman (3), Elena Velasquez (4), Connie Woodhouse (4), and Peter Brown (5)] is an informal collaboration of researchers that is coordinating the redesigning effort. The revised system, now renamed FHAES (Fire History Analysis and Exploration System), is being written in platform-independent, open source software (for example, Java and JFreeChart), but to control costs and maintain a reasonable launch schedule some of the original PASCAL executable code will be retained. The new system is structured around a central graphical user interface that calls out to other separate components. These components (data entry and file management, graphics, statistical analysis, climate relationships) have been or are being written by different individuals and contributed to the effort. The programmer writing the central interface is ensuring that the components are compatible. We are using portal technology to deliver the system on the Internet, and the portal is being hosted by FRAMES (Fire Research and Management Exchange System) and the content is being managed the National Climatic Data Center's Paleoclimatology Branch.

(1) USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, (2) University of Tennessee, Department of Geography, (3) NOAA National Climatic Data Center, Paleoclimatology Branch, (4) University of Arizona, Department of Geography and Regional Development, (5) Rocky Mountain Tree-Ring Research.

Working Group Responsibilities:

Project Coordination:
Elaine Kennedy Sutherland, Connie Woodhouse, Wendy Gross, and Michael Hartman

Scientific Direction and Consultation:
Henri Grissino-Mayer, Peter Brown, Elaine Kennedy Sutherland, and Connie Woodhouse

Software Development:
Wendy Gross: Graphics/plotting
Elena Velasquez: Central user interface, analysis, compatibility

Web Design:
Michael Hartman, Wendy Gross, Elena Velasquez