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The rate of rise of the convection columns above experimental fires depends on the rate of average atmospheric temperature lapse in the lower 1,000 meters. The type of fuels used in these fires will probably produce a mass fire if the burning area is 27 plus or minus 2 hectares or larger and if winds are light. A series of experimental free burning fires conducted by the Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station from 1964 to 1969 to study large-fire effects resulted in a unique body of information about convection columns above a known source of energy at a fixed site. The nine fires were extensively photographed and documented (Table 1). The initial analysis of the data, using the conventional methods of describing plume rise reported by Briggs were not consistent from fire to fire. However, investigation of the smoke column did reveal a relationship between (1) the lapse rate of low-level temperature and (2) the smoke column's volume versus time. This paper summarizes the data that describe these relationships and the results of the smoke column analysis, and illustrates the several different modes of air flow into a large free-burning fire.
Cataloging Information
- air temperature
- convection
- energy
- experimental fires
- field experimental fires
- fire size
- fuel management
- fuel types
- ignition
- Juniperus osteosperma
- light
- Nevada
- photography
- Pinus
- smoke behavior
- smoke effects
- smoke management
- temperature
- wind
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