Evaluating the Ability of FARSITE to Simulate Wildfires Influenced by Extreme, Downslope Winds in Santa Barbara, California
Extreme, downslope mountain winds often generate dangerous wildfire conditions. We used the wildfire spread model Fire Area Simulator (FARSITE) to simulate two wildfires influenced by strong wind events in Santa Barbara, CA. High spatial-resolution imagery for fuel maps and hourly wind downscaled to...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-07-01
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| Series: | Fire |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/3/3/29 |
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| author | Katelyn Zigner Leila M. V. Carvalho Seth Peterson Francis Fujioka Gert-Jan Duine Charles Jones Dar Roberts Max Moritz |
| author_facet | Katelyn Zigner Leila M. V. Carvalho Seth Peterson Francis Fujioka Gert-Jan Duine Charles Jones Dar Roberts Max Moritz |
| author_sort | Katelyn Zigner |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Extreme, downslope mountain winds often generate dangerous wildfire conditions. We used the wildfire spread model Fire Area Simulator (FARSITE) to simulate two wildfires influenced by strong wind events in Santa Barbara, CA. High spatial-resolution imagery for fuel maps and hourly wind downscaled to 100 m were used as model inputs, and sensitivity tests were performed to evaluate the effects of ignition timing and location on fire spread. Additionally, burn area rasters from FARSITE simulations were compared to minimum travel time rasters from FlamMap simulations, a wildfire model similar to FARSITE that holds environmental variables constant. Utilization of two case studies during strong winds revealed that FARSITE was able to successfully reconstruct the spread rate and size of wildfires when spotting was minimal. However, in situations when spotting was an important factor in rapid downslope wildfire spread, both FARSITE and FlamMap were unable to simulate realistic fire perimeters. We show that this is due to inherent limitations in the models themselves, related to the slope-orientation relative to the simulated fire spread, and the dependence of ember launch and land locations. This finding has widespread implications, given the role of spotting in fire progression during extreme wind events. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T18:33:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5e3d0458ede84cd0b876de427e9fd669 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2571-6255 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T18:33:27Z |
| publishDate | 2020-07-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Fire |
| spelling | doaj.art-5e3d0458ede84cd0b876de427e9fd6692023-11-20T06:25:29ZengMDPI AGFire2571-62552020-07-01332910.3390/fire3030029Evaluating the Ability of FARSITE to Simulate Wildfires Influenced by Extreme, Downslope Winds in Santa Barbara, CaliforniaKatelyn Zigner0Leila M. V. Carvalho1Seth Peterson2Francis Fujioka3Gert-Jan Duine4Charles Jones5Dar Roberts6Max Moritz7Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USADepartment of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USADepartment of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USACEESMO, Chapman University, Orange, CA 92866, USAEarth Research Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USADepartment of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USADepartment of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USADepartment of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USAExtreme, downslope mountain winds often generate dangerous wildfire conditions. We used the wildfire spread model Fire Area Simulator (FARSITE) to simulate two wildfires influenced by strong wind events in Santa Barbara, CA. High spatial-resolution imagery for fuel maps and hourly wind downscaled to 100 m were used as model inputs, and sensitivity tests were performed to evaluate the effects of ignition timing and location on fire spread. Additionally, burn area rasters from FARSITE simulations were compared to minimum travel time rasters from FlamMap simulations, a wildfire model similar to FARSITE that holds environmental variables constant. Utilization of two case studies during strong winds revealed that FARSITE was able to successfully reconstruct the spread rate and size of wildfires when spotting was minimal. However, in situations when spotting was an important factor in rapid downslope wildfire spread, both FARSITE and FlamMap were unable to simulate realistic fire perimeters. We show that this is due to inherent limitations in the models themselves, related to the slope-orientation relative to the simulated fire spread, and the dependence of ember launch and land locations. This finding has widespread implications, given the role of spotting in fire progression during extreme wind events.https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/3/3/29wildfire modelingFARSITEspottingfire weatherSundowner winds |
| spellingShingle | Katelyn Zigner Leila M. V. Carvalho Seth Peterson Francis Fujioka Gert-Jan Duine Charles Jones Dar Roberts Max Moritz Evaluating the Ability of FARSITE to Simulate Wildfires Influenced by Extreme, Downslope Winds in Santa Barbara, California Fire wildfire modeling FARSITE spotting fire weather Sundowner winds |
| title | Evaluating the Ability of FARSITE to Simulate Wildfires Influenced by Extreme, Downslope Winds in Santa Barbara, California |
| title_full | Evaluating the Ability of FARSITE to Simulate Wildfires Influenced by Extreme, Downslope Winds in Santa Barbara, California |
| title_fullStr | Evaluating the Ability of FARSITE to Simulate Wildfires Influenced by Extreme, Downslope Winds in Santa Barbara, California |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluating the Ability of FARSITE to Simulate Wildfires Influenced by Extreme, Downslope Winds in Santa Barbara, California |
| title_short | Evaluating the Ability of FARSITE to Simulate Wildfires Influenced by Extreme, Downslope Winds in Santa Barbara, California |
| title_sort | evaluating the ability of farsite to simulate wildfires influenced by extreme downslope winds in santa barbara california |
| topic | wildfire modeling FARSITE spotting fire weather Sundowner winds |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/3/3/29 |
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