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Comparing Modelled Soil Temperature and Moisture Dynamics During Prescribed Fires, Slash-Pile Burns, and Wildfires

Peter Robichaud , William Massman, Anthony Bova, Antonio Girona-García , Andoni Alfaro-Leranoz , Nancy Gibson

Abstract

Background; Wildfires, prescribed fires, and slash-pile burns are disturbances that occur in many terrestrial ecosystems. Such fires produce variable surface heat fluxes causing a spectrum of effects on soil, such as seed mortality, nutrient loss, changes in microbial activity and water repellency. Accurately modelling soil heating is vital to predicting these second-order fire effects. The process-based Massman HMV (Heat-Moisture-Vapor) model incorporates soil water evaporation, heat transport, water vapor movement, and captures the observed rapid evaporation of soil moisture. Aims; Improve the Massman (2015) HMV model and compare it to Campbell (1995) soil heating model using four independent soil temperature datasets collected during burning. Methods; The models were evaluated using similar BFD curves against observed temperature and soil moisture using standard statistical methods. Key Results; Results suggest reasonable agreement between the Massman HMV model and field soil temperature data under various burn scenarios and was consistently more accurate than the Campbell model. Conclusions; The Massman HMV model improved soil heating predictions and provided soil moisture predictions. Implications; Massman HMV model was incorporated in the First Order Fire Effects Model (FOFEM version 6.7) with a user-friendly interface that allows managers to assess the heating impacts of fire on soil temperature and moisture.

WF22082  Accepted 11 March 2025

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