Application of LiDAR Derived Fuel Cells to Wildfire Modeling at Laboratory Scale
Author:
Marcozzi Anthony A.1ORCID, Johnson Jesse V.1, Parsons Russell A.2ORCID, Flanary Sarah J.2, Seielstad Carl A.3ORCID, Downs Jacob Z.1
Affiliation:
1. Department of Computer Science, University of Montana, 32 Campus Drive, ISB 406, Missoula, MT 59812, USA 2. US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory, 5775 W. Highway 10, Missoula, MT 59801, USA 3. National Center for Landscape Fire Analysis, University of Montana, 32 Campus Drive, CHCB 428, Missoula, MT 59812, USA
Abstract
Terrestrial LiDAR scans (TLS) offer a rich data source for high-fidelity vegetation characterization, addressing the limitations of traditional fuel sampling methods by capturing spatially explicit distributions that have a significant impact on fire behavior. However, large volumes of complex, high resolution data are difficult to use directly in wildland fire models. In this study, we introduce a novel method that employs a voxelization technique to convert high-resolution TLS data into fine-grained reference voxels, which are subsequently aggregated into lower-fidelity fuel cells for integration into physics-based fire models. This methodology aims to transform the complexity of TLS data into a format amenable for integration into wildland fire models, while retaining essential information about the spatial distribution of vegetation. We evaluate our approach by comparing a range of aggregate geometries in simulated burns to laboratory measurements. The results show insensitivity to fuel cell geometry at fine resolutions (2–8 cm), but we observe deviations in model behavior at the coarsest resolutions considered (16 cm). Our findings highlight the importance of capturing the fine scale spatial continuity present in heterogeneous tree canopies in order to accurately simulate fire behavior in coupled fire-atmosphere models. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the use of TLS data to inform fuel inputs to a physics based model at a laboratory scale.
Funder
Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program National Science Foundation EPSCoR
Subject
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous),Safety Research,Environmental Science (miscellaneous),Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality,Building and Construction,Forestry
Reference44 articles.
1. Modeling spatial and temporal dynamics of wind flow and potential fire behavior following a mountain pine beetle outbreak in a lodgepole pine forest;Hoffman;Agric. For. Meteorol.,2015 2. Parsons, R., Linn, R., Pimont, F., Hoffman, C., Sauer, J., Winterkamp, J., Sieg, C., and Jolly, W. (2017). Numerical Investigation of Aggregated Fuel Spatial Pattern Impacts on Fire Behavior. Land, 6. 3. Are the applications of wildland fire behaviour models getting ahead of their evaluation again?;Alexander;Environ. Model. Softw.,2013 4. Prescribed fire science: The case for a refined research agenda;Hiers;Fire Ecol.,2020 5. Hoffman, C.M., Sieg, C.H., Linn, R.R., Mell, W., Parsons, R.A., Ziegler, J.P., and Hiers, J.K. (2018). Advancing the science of wildland fire dynamics using process-based models. Fire, 1.
|
|