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Fuel reduction treatments are implemented in the forest surrounding the wildland-urban interface (WUI) to provide defensible space and safe opportunity for the protection of homes during a wildfire. The 2011 Wallow Fire in Arizona USA burned through…
Author(s): Maureen C. Kennedy, Morris C. Johnson
Year Published:

Exposed mineral soil is an immediate result of forest fires with direct relevance on surface runoff and soil erosion. The goal of this study was to determine which topographic features influence the distribution of exposed mineral soil following…
Author(s): Mariana Dobre, Joan Q. Wu, William J. Elliot, Ina S. Miller, Theresa B. Jain
Year Published:

Comprehensive assessment of ecological change after fires have burned forests and rangelands is important if we are to understand, predict and measure fire effects. We highlight the challenges in effective assessment of fire and burn severity in the…
Author(s): Penelope Morgan, Robert E. Keane, Gregory K. Dillon, Theresa B. Jain, Andrew T. Hudak, Eva C. Karau, Pamela G. Sikkink, Zachary A. Holden, Eva K. Strand
Year Published:

Fuel treatments represent a significant component of the wildfire mitigation strategy in the United States. However, the lack of research aimed at quantifying the explicit effectiveness of fuel treatments in reducing wildfire intensity and spread…
Author(s): Eric Mueller, Nick Skowronski, Albert Simeoni, Kenneth L. Clark, Robert L. Kremens, William E. Mell, Michael R. Gallagher, Jan C. Thomas, Alexander I. Filkov, M. El Houssami, John L. Hom, Bret W. Butler
Year Published:

For this study three types of wind models have been defined for simulating surface wind flow in support of wildland fire management: (1) a uniform wind field (typically acquired from coarse-resolution (,4 km) weather service forecast models); (2) a…
Author(s): Jason M. Forthofer, Bret W. Butler, Natalie S. Wagenbrenner
Year Published:

The effect of fine-resolution wind simulations on fire growth simulations is explored. The wind models are (1) a wind field consisting of constant speed and direction applied everywhere over the area of interest; (2) a tool based on the solution of…
Author(s): Jason M. Forthofer, Bret W. Butler, Charles W. McHugh, Mark A. Finney, Larry S. Bradshaw, Richard D. Stratton, Kyle S. Shannon, Natalie S. Wagenbrenner
Year Published:

Current wildland firefighter safety zone guidelines are based on studies that assume flat terrain, radiant heating, finite flame width, constant flame temperature and high flame emissivity. Firefighter entrapments and injuries occur across a broad…
Author(s): Bret W. Butler
Year Published:

Observed changes in climate of the U.S. Pacific Northwest since the early twentieth century were examined using four different datasets. Annual mean temperature increased by approximately 0.6°–0.8°C from 1901 to 2012, with corroborating indicators…
Author(s): John T. Abatzoglou, David E. Rupp, Philip W. Mote
Year Published:

Climate warming fosters an earlier spring green-up that may bring potential benefits to ag ricultural systems. However, advances in green-up timing may leave early stage vegetation growth vulnerable to cold damage when hard freezes follow green-up…
Author(s): Alexander G. Peterson, John T. Abatzoglou
Year Published:

Water resources in the western United States are contingent on interannual variations in snow- pack. Interannual snowpack variability has been attributed to large-scale climate patterns including the El Ni ~ no-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), however,…
Author(s): A.C. Lute, John T. Abatzoglou
Year Published:

This study investigates the extent of the rain-snow transition zone across the complex terrain of the western United States for both late 20th century climate and projected changes in climate by the mid-21st century. Observed and projected…
Author(s): P. Zion Klos, Timothy E. Link, John T. Abatzoglou
Year Published:

Drought indices are often used for monitoring interannual variability in macroscale hydrology. However, the diversity of drought indices raises several issues: 1) which indices perform best and where; 2) does the incorporation of potential…
Author(s): John T. Abatzoglou, Renaud Barbero, Jacob W. Wolf, Zachary A. Holden
Year Published:

Changes in the extent of absolute, all-time, daily temperature records across the contiguous United States were examined using observations and climate model simulations. Observations from station data and reanalysis from 1980 to 2013 show increased…
Author(s): John T. Abatzoglou, Renaud Barbero
Year Published:

Very large-fires (VLFs) have widespread impacts on ecosystems, air quality, fire suppression resources, and in many regions account for a majority of total area burned. Empirical generalized linear models of the largest fires (>5000 ha) across…
Author(s): Renaud Barbero, John T. Abatzoglou, E. Ashley Steel, Narasimhan K. Larkin
Year Published:

Johnstone and Mantua (1) claim that changes in atmospheric circulation were the primary cause of the observed warming of sea surface temperature around the northeastern Pacific margins and surface air temperature (SAT) in Northern California, Oregon…
Author(s): John T. Abatzoglou, David E. Rupp, Philip W. Mote
Year Published:

Mega-fires can adversely impact air quality in the United States and the impacts are likely to become more serious in the future due to the possibility of more frequent and intense mega-fires in response to the projected climate change. This study…
Author(s): Yongqiang Liu, Scott L. Goodrick, John A. Stanturf, Hanqin Tian
Year Published:

Can fire potential forecasts assist with pre-positioning of fire suppression resources, which could result in a cost savings to the United States government? Here, we present a preliminary assessment of the 7-Day Fire Potential Outlook forecasts…
Author(s): Karen L. Riley, Crystal S. Stonesifer, Haiganoush K. Preisler, David E. Calkin
Year Published:

The ecological effects of forest fires burning with high severity are long-lived and have the greatest impact on vegetation successional trajectories, as compared to low-to-moderate severity fires. The primary drivers of high severity fire are…
Author(s): Donovan Birch, Penelope Morgan, Crystal A. Kolden, Andrew T. Hudak, Alistair M. S. Smith
Year Published:

Very large wildfires can cause significant economic and environmental damage, including destruction of homes, adverse air quality, firefighting costs and even loss of life. We examine how climate is associated with very large wildland fires (VLWFs…
Author(s): E. Natasha Stavros, John T. Abatzoglou, Narasimhan K. Larkin, Donald McKenzie, E. Ashley Steel
Year Published:

Seasonal changes in the climatic potential for very large wildfires (VLWF > or = 50,000 ac ~20,234 ha) across the western contiguous United States are projected over the 21st century using generalized linear models and downscaled climate…
Author(s): E. Natasha Stavros, John T. Abatzoglou, Donald McKenzie, Narasimhan K. Larkin
Year Published: