Wildland Fire Smoke & Roadway Visibility: Predict, Prepare and - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Wildland Fire Smoke & Roadway Visibility: Predict, Prepare and Avert Accidents Apex Superfog Event December 10 th 2015 A three part webinar series sponsored by NWCG Smoke Committee, Southern Fire Exchange, The Nature Conservancy & Prescribed Fire Training Center at Montgomery Community College

But first some webinar business: √ Start Recording √ Recognition of our partners √ Recognition of our presenters √ Archived by FRAMES √ Continuing Forestry Education Credits √ Webinar flow: time / presentation /questions Southern Fire Exchange

For those who wish to earn Continuing Forestry Education credits or to receive updates! I will need: 1. Name: Last, First, & M.I. 2. “email address” & 3. “physical mailing address” This is for CFE and MCC PFTC Certificates as well as for future mailings in relation to the webinars. This information can be entered into the webinar Chat Box or email it to: gary.curcio@gmail.com Also, I can be reached at 252-624-7635 (cell #)

Wildland Fire Smoke Guiding Principles Smoke Dispersion Matrix

Part 3: “Planned Burn (PB) Piedmont Web Tool – Estimating Superfog potential from Smoldering Combustion” Presenter: Matt Fearon Desert Research Institute “The tools for wildland smoke are building blocks of knowledge that deal with fuel, weather fire, and emissions”.

Discussion outline  Couple summary slides on the Planned Burn (PB) Piedmont model concept  Overview of the PB-Piedmont web tool page  Model results from two historical case examples [Kentucky and Arizona]

Summary of PB-Piedmont Model A local predictive model developed by Gary Achtemeier and the USFS  to evaluate the low-level transport of smoke particles and fog potential associated with smoldering combustion The underlying premise behind the model computations is to determine  the state and activity of the surface drainage flow—a flow regime that develops as part of the broader mountain-valley circulation over moderate to steep terrain Under relatively weak large-scale weather conditions the nocturnal  boundary layer thermally decouples from larger-scale influence Under this scenario, in the presence of smoldering combustion, the  local meteorological conditions surround and mix with the residual fire environment— the PB-Piedmont model has been designed to evaluate this scenario, including the thermodynamics and particle transport that ensue

Boundary layer decoupling schematic Courtesy: Stull 1988

https://cefa.dri.edu/PB_Piedmont/

Mountain Parkway Powell County Kentucky Superfog Event November 16 2016 8:45 AM Smoke from the Woodland Fire Historical case, used ECMWF 12.5 km reanalysis Model parameter settings: Location of ignition: 37.803078 latitude, -83.680269 Timezone: America/New York (EST) Local start date: November 15, 2016 Local start time: 1600 EST Duration: 18 hours Area burned: 20 acres Grid spacing: 60 meters Sample radius: 4 miles Fuel type: trees 10

Source area of major smoke production on 11/16 Lat. = 37.803078 Lon = -83.680269 Clear Branch ties into Middle Fork Red River in Slade. Accident site

Courtesy: Gary Curcio and colleagues

KY: November 15, 2016, 1630 EST 13

KY: November 15, 2016, 1730 EST 14

KY: November 15, 2016, 1630 EST 15

KY: November 15, 2016, 1830 EST 16

KY: November 15, 2016, 1930 EST 17

KY: November 15, 2016, 2030 EST 18

KY: November 15, 2016, 2130 EST 19

KY: November 15, 2016, 2230 EST 20

KY: November 15, 2016, 2330 EST 21

KY: November 16, 2016, 0030 EST 22

KY: November 16, 2016, 0130 EST 23

KY: November 16, 2016, 0230 EST 24

KY: November 16, 2016, 0330 EST 25

KY: November 16, 2016, 0430 EST 26

KY: November 16, 2016, 0530 EST 27

KY: November 16, 2016, 0630 EST 28

KY: November 16, 2016, 0730 EST 29

PB-Piedmont Run Mountain Parkway, Slade KY

Interstate 40 Arizona Accident/Superfog Event October 19 th 2016, 3:30 AM Historical case, used ECMWF 12.5 km reanalysis Model parameter settings: Location of ignition: 35.27364 latitude -112.0135 longitude Timezone: America/Phoenix (MST) Local start date: October 19, 2016 Local start time: 1600 MST Duration: 13 hours Area burned: 2500 acres Grid spacing: 60 meters Sample radius: 16 miles Fuel type: grass 31

AZ: October 18, 2016, 1630 MST 34

AZ: October 18, 2016, 1730 MST 35

AZ: October 18, 2016, 1830 MST 36

AZ: October 18, 2016, 1930 MST 37

AZ: October 18, 2016, 2030 MST 38

AZ: October 18, 2016, 2230 MST 39

AZ: October 18, 2016, 2330 MST 40

AZ: October 19, 2016, 0030 MST 41

AZ: October 19, 2016, 0130 MST 42

AZ: October 19, 2016, 0230 MST 43

AZ: October 19, 2016, 0330 MST 44

https://cefa.dri.edu/PB_Piedmont/ Project supervisor: Timothy Brown Project support: Lyle Pritchett Acknowledgements: Gary Achtemeier, Scott Goodrick, Gary Curcio, USFS Webinar assistance: Liz Rank