Measurements, datasets and preliminary results from the RxCADRE project – 2008, 2011 and 2012
Roger D. Ottmar A K , J. Kevin Hiers B , Bret W. Butler C , Craig B. Clements D , Matthew B. Dickinson E , Andrew T. Hudak F , Joseph J. O’Brien G , Brian E. Potter A , Eric M. Rowell H , Tara M. Strand I and Thomas J. Zajkowski JA US Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory, 400 North 34th Street, Suite 201, Seattle, WA 98103, USA.
B University of the South, 735 University Avenue, Sewanee, TN 37383, USA.
C US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, 5775 US Highway 10 West, Missoula, MT 59808, USA.
D Fire Weather Research Laboratory, Department of Meteorology and Climate Science, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95912, USA.
E US Forest Service, Northern Research Station, 359 Main Road, Delaware, OH 43015, USA.
F US Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, 1221 South Main Street, Moscow, ID 83833, USA.
G US Forest Service, Southern Research Station, 320 Green Street, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
H Department of Forest Management, College of Forestry and Conservation, University of Montana, 32 Campus Drive, Missoula, MT 59812, USA.
I New Zealand Crown Forest Research Institute, Scion, Forestry Building, Forestry Road, Ilam, Christchurch 8042, New Zealand.
J NextGen Air Transportation Center, North Carolina State University, Centennial Campus, Box 8601, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA.
K Corresponding author. Email: rottmar@fs.fed.us
International Journal of Wildland Fire 25(1) 1-9 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF14161
Submitted: 12 September 2014 Accepted: 22 September 2015 Published: 26 November 2015
Abstract
The lack of independent, quality-assured field data prevents scientists from effectively evaluating and advancing wildland fire models. To rectify this, scientists and technicians convened in the south-eastern United States in 2008, 2011 and 2012 to collect wildland fire data in six integrated core science disciplines defined by the fire modelling community. These were fuels, meteorology, fire behaviour, energy, smoke emissions and fire effects. The campaign is known as the Prescribed Fire Combustion and Atmospheric Dynamics Research Experiment (RxCADRE) and sampled 14 forest and 14 non-forest sample units associated within 6 small replicate (<10 ha) and 10 large operational (between 10 and 1000 ha) prescribed fires. Precampaign planning included identifying hosting agencies receptive to research and the development of study, logistics and safety plans. Data were quality-assured, reduced, analysed and formatted and placed into a globally accessible repository maintained by the US Forest Service Research Data Archive. The success of the RxCADRE project led to the commencement of a follow-on larger multiagency project called the Fire and Smoke Model Evaluation Experiment (FASMEE). This overview summarises the RxCADRE project and nine companion papers that describe the data collection, analysis and important conclusions from the six science disciplines.
Additional keywords: fire behaviour, fire effects, fire model evaluation, fire weather, fuel, remote-piloted aircraft system, smoke.
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