Advancing coupled fire-atmosphere research with HIGRAD/FIRETEC (w20_firetec) (CY 2021 Institutional Computing Annual Progress Report) [Slides]
LANL’s HIGRAD and FIRETEC models were used in a multi-scale simulation framework to investigate impacts of small-scale fuel heterogeneities on large-scale Pyro-Cb formation. Forest structural diversity is found to increase canopy fire spread, and thus risk of tree mortality in FIRETEC simulations. Structural diversity is associated with an increase in ladder fuels, which facilitate fire spread into the canopy. Low-intensity fire burning in marginal conditions is highly sensitive to small perturbation in atmospheric turbulence. These results highlight predictive limitations of individual fire simulations, and emphasize the need for ensemble simulations, especially for low-intensity, prescribed fire.