[PAOCQ] Craig Clements (San Jose State)

“Probing Large Wildfires to Understand Extreme Fire-Atmosphere Dynamics”

As extreme fire behavior is more frequently observed around the world, there is a need to increase understanding of the role fire-atmosphere interactions have on these events. Part of the problem is the lack of comprehensive observations of the wildfire environment and in particular, fire-atmospheric interactions. This presentation will describe recent field programs and studies that have focused on measuring these processes to better understand fire behavior and the wildfire environment. Using examples from both small field experiments and the monitoring of large wildfires, this talk will explore techniques to probe large wildfire plumes and their dynamics. Some of these techniques were developed during the Rapid Deployments to Wildfires Experiment (RaDFIRE) that was the first coordinated meteorological field campaign dedicated to observing fire-atmosphere interactions during wildfires to better understand extreme fire behavior. This program along with others have shed light on plume structures of both ordinary plumes and larger plumes associated with pyrocumulonimbus with extreme updraft cores of 58 m s-1. While observations of large wildfires have shed light on processes associated with fire-atmosphere interactions, data collected from small-scale and comprehensive field experiments provide context on the local processes responsible for fire spread that are difficult to observe when sampling large wildfires. Finally, challenges of observing extreme wildfires and their associated meteorology are discussed as well as needed areas of improvement.

[PAOCQ] PAOC Colloquium 

Interdisciplinary seminar series that brings together the whole PAOC (Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate) community. Seminar topics include all research concerning the physics, chemistry, and biology of the atmospheres, oceans and climate, as well as talks about societal impacts of climatic processes.  

Contact: paoc-colloquium-comm@mit.edu