Assessing the Fire-Modified Meteorology of the Grassland and Forest Intersection Zone in Mongolia Using the WRF-Fire Model
Climate change is already significantly affecting the frequency of wildfires in most regions of the world, and the risk of wildfires is expected to amplify further with global warming. Accordingly, there is growing concern about the mechanisms and impacts of extreme fires. In this study, a coupling...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-11-01
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| Series: | Fire |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/6/11/443 |
| _version_ | 1797459356027977728 |
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| author | Yongli Wang Lamei Shi Zitong Shi Qichao Yao Zhou Wang Linhao Zhong |
| author_facet | Yongli Wang Lamei Shi Zitong Shi Qichao Yao Zhou Wang Linhao Zhong |
| author_sort | Yongli Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Climate change is already significantly affecting the frequency of wildfires in most regions of the world, and the risk of wildfires is expected to amplify further with global warming. Accordingly, there is growing concern about the mechanisms and impacts of extreme fires. In this study, a coupling of the Weather Research and Forecasting model and the Rothermel Fire model (WRF-Fire) is employed to reproduce the spread of fire within the national boundary of inner Mongolia from 21 to 27 May 2009. Simulations were run with or without feedback from fire-to-atmosphere models, and the study focused on how the energy flux of simulated fires changes the local meteorological environment. The coupled simulation could reproduce the burned area well, and the wind speed was the dominant factor in the fire spread, with a maximum value no more than 6.4 m/s, when the terrain height changes little and the proportion of grassland is low. After the feedback, the propagation speed of the fire accelerated, accompanying the release of latent and sensible heat, and local circulation formed near the front of the fire, leading to a convergence and divergence zone in the downwind area. It is worth noting that during a period of more than 140 h of simulation, the area of the fire field increased by 17% from ignition time. Therefore, considering the fire–atmosphere interaction is necessary for accurately predicting fire behavior. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:51:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-dabdba296e66445797446c9aa76b451c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2571-6255 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:51:17Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Fire |
| spelling | doaj.art-dabdba296e66445797446c9aa76b451c2023-11-24T14:41:37ZengMDPI AGFire2571-62552023-11-0161144310.3390/fire6110443Assessing the Fire-Modified Meteorology of the Grassland and Forest Intersection Zone in Mongolia Using the WRF-Fire ModelYongli Wang0Lamei Shi1Zitong Shi2Qichao Yao3Zhou Wang4Linhao Zhong5National Institute of Natural Hazards, Ministry of Emergency Management of China, Beijing 100085, ChinaNational Institute of Natural Hazards, Ministry of Emergency Management of China, Beijing 100085, ChinaNational Institute of Natural Hazards, Ministry of Emergency Management of China, Beijing 100085, ChinaNational Institute of Natural Hazards, Ministry of Emergency Management of China, Beijing 100085, ChinaNational Institute of Natural Hazards, Ministry of Emergency Management of China, Beijing 100085, ChinaNational Institute of Natural Hazards, Ministry of Emergency Management of China, Beijing 100085, ChinaClimate change is already significantly affecting the frequency of wildfires in most regions of the world, and the risk of wildfires is expected to amplify further with global warming. Accordingly, there is growing concern about the mechanisms and impacts of extreme fires. In this study, a coupling of the Weather Research and Forecasting model and the Rothermel Fire model (WRF-Fire) is employed to reproduce the spread of fire within the national boundary of inner Mongolia from 21 to 27 May 2009. Simulations were run with or without feedback from fire-to-atmosphere models, and the study focused on how the energy flux of simulated fires changes the local meteorological environment. The coupled simulation could reproduce the burned area well, and the wind speed was the dominant factor in the fire spread, with a maximum value no more than 6.4 m/s, when the terrain height changes little and the proportion of grassland is low. After the feedback, the propagation speed of the fire accelerated, accompanying the release of latent and sensible heat, and local circulation formed near the front of the fire, leading to a convergence and divergence zone in the downwind area. It is worth noting that during a period of more than 140 h of simulation, the area of the fire field increased by 17% from ignition time. Therefore, considering the fire–atmosphere interaction is necessary for accurately predicting fire behavior.https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/6/11/443WRF-Fireatmosphere–fire interactionsfire behavior |
| spellingShingle | Yongli Wang Lamei Shi Zitong Shi Qichao Yao Zhou Wang Linhao Zhong Assessing the Fire-Modified Meteorology of the Grassland and Forest Intersection Zone in Mongolia Using the WRF-Fire Model Fire WRF-Fire atmosphere–fire interactions fire behavior |
| title | Assessing the Fire-Modified Meteorology of the Grassland and Forest Intersection Zone in Mongolia Using the WRF-Fire Model |
| title_full | Assessing the Fire-Modified Meteorology of the Grassland and Forest Intersection Zone in Mongolia Using the WRF-Fire Model |
| title_fullStr | Assessing the Fire-Modified Meteorology of the Grassland and Forest Intersection Zone in Mongolia Using the WRF-Fire Model |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing the Fire-Modified Meteorology of the Grassland and Forest Intersection Zone in Mongolia Using the WRF-Fire Model |
| title_short | Assessing the Fire-Modified Meteorology of the Grassland and Forest Intersection Zone in Mongolia Using the WRF-Fire Model |
| title_sort | assessing the fire modified meteorology of the grassland and forest intersection zone in mongolia using the wrf fire model |
| topic | WRF-Fire atmosphere–fire interactions fire behavior |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/6/11/443 |
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