  |
|
|
 |
 |
| An atmospheric model, similar to ones used for weather forecasting, has been connected to a wildfire model so that heat and moisture from the fire are released into the atmosphere, creating strong winds (especially near the fireline), which then affect the spread of the fire. | Of our model's features, the ones particularly useful for fire modeling (red checks) are that it can be used in mountainous terrain, it can model atmospheric motions over a region while focussing in with high resolution on, say, one small valley, and include large-scale atmospheric motions such as cold fronts that affect fire behavior. |
 |
 |
| The fire component of the model calculates the fire spread rate in different fuel, wind, and slope conditions, heat release into the atmosphere, and the transition of ground fires into crown fires (ones that race through the canopies of trees), | Propagation of the fire line itself is accomplished by subdividing each atmospheric model cell into smaller fuel grid cells. When a fuel cell is ignited by contact with a neighboring burning cell, 4 tracers that outline the burning region are ignited and track the moving fireline. |
MODEL DESCRIPTION