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Type: Conference Paper
Author(s): Stephen W. Taylor; George N. Dalrymple
Editor(s): R. Todd Engstrom; Krista E. M. Galley; William J. de Groot
Publication Date: 2004

Rate of spread is a key fire behavior characteristic. Spread rate is thought to accelerate after ignition to an equilibrium value, then vary over the burning period due to variation in wind speed and direction, and fuel conditions. Using data from gridded thermocouples, we mapped the progress of the fire front and characterized variation in fire spread rate through the International Crown Fire Modelling Experiment test plots, Northwest Territories. Thermocouple-datalogger instruments were placed at 45 grid points in the test plots prior to ignition and recorded temperatures throughout the fires. Fire arrival times were determined from the time-temperature traces, and surface-fitting techniques in ArcView Spatial Analyst software were used to determine time surfaces. Contours or iso-chrons of the time surface represent the fire front location over time, while the inverse slope of the time surface represents the fire spread rate. We found that the use of gridded thermocouple data coupled with spatial analysis is a very efficient, reliable, and low-cost means of characterizing fire front shape, position, and spread rate over time, although, depending on the density of the grid, some detail is lost due to smoothing. In addition to characterizing variation in fire spread and identifying periods of equilibrium spread, the data allowed us to determine the fire position in relation to other instrumentation over the progress of the fires. © 2004, Tall Timbers Research, Inc.

Citation: Taylor, S. W., and G. N. Dalrymple. 2004. Characterizing variability in crown fire spread using gridded thermocouple data [abstract], in Engstrom, R. T., Galley, K. E. M., and de Groot, W. J., Proceedings 22nd Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference: Fire in temperate, boreal, and montane ecosystems. Kananiskis Village, Alberta, Canada. Tall Timbers Research, Inc.,Edmonton, Alberta, Canada [Imperial Printing Ltd.]. p. 201-2001,

Cataloging Information

Topics:
Fire Behavior    Fire Ecology    Fuels    Mapping    Models    Planning
Regions:
Alaska    California    Eastern    Great Basin    Hawaii    Northern Rockies    Northwest    Rocky Mountain    Southern    Southwest    International    National
Keywords:
  • boreal forests
  • Canada
  • crown fires
  • fire equipment
  • fuel types
  • GIS
  • ignition
  • Northwest Territories
  • rate of spread
  • temperature
  • wind
Tall Timbers Record Number: 17543Location Status: In-fileCall Number: Tall Timbers shelfAbstract Status: Fair use, Okay, Reproduced by permission
Record Last Modified:
Record Maintained By: FRAMES Staff (https://www.frames.gov/contact)
FRAMES Record Number: 42467

This bibliographic record was either created or modified by Tall Timbers and is provided without charge to promote research and education in Fire Ecology. The E.V. Komarek Fire Ecology Database is the intellectual property of Tall Timbers.