Comparison of vapour-exchange methods for predicting hourly twig fuel moisture contents of larch and birch stands in the Daxinganling Region, China
Hongzhou Yu
A B , Lifu Shu B , Guang Yang A and Jifeng Deng C D E F
A College of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Key Laboratory of Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Management-Ministry of Education, Hexing St. 26, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province 150040, People’s Republic of China.
B Research Institute of Forest Ecology, Environment and Protection, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, People’s Republic of China.
C College of Forestry, Shenyang Agricultural University, Dongling St. 120, Shenyang, Liaoning Province 110866, People’s Republic of China.
D Key Laboratory of Forest Tree genetics and Breeding of Liaoning Province, Dongling St. 120, Shenyang, Liaoning Province 110866, People’s Republic of China.
E Research Station of Liaohe-River Plain Forest Ecosystem, Chinese Forest Ecosystem Research Network, Shenyang Agricultural University, Dongling St. 120, Shenyang, Liaoning Province 110866, People’s Republic of China.
F Corresponding author. Email: jifeng-deng@syau.edu.cn
International Journal of Wildland Fire 30(6) 462-466 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF19184
Submitted: 7 November 2019 Accepted: 19 March 2021 Published: 21 April 2021
Abstract
The Daxinganling Region, in Heilongjiang Province, China, has experienced considerable losses to forest resources owing to a recent increase in forest fire frequency. This necessitates the predictions of fire behaviour in this region, which requires assessment of fuel moisture content (FMC) at appropriate space and time intervals. Here, we compare and extrapolate results of vapour-exchange methods for predicting hourly moisture contents of downed wood. The FMC of larch and birch twig fuels was measured at 1-h intervals at different slope positions with respect to meteorological factors. The twigs were categorised based on diameter and degree of decay. The Nelson and Simard methods (which consider equilibrium moisture content and the associated time lag) and direct regression method (which allows direct attainment of the FMC) were used. Both Nelson and Simard methods predicted hourly twig moisture content more accurately than the direct regression method. The Simard method was the most accurate, with the lowest mean absolute error and mean relative error as well as relatively small variation coefficients based on results of the extrapolation analysis. Further, the resulting models applied to needle-leaved and lightly decomposed fuels performed better than for the broad-leaved and badly decomposed fuels on evaluation parameters.
Keywords: vapour-exchange method, twig moisture content, extrapolation analysis, Larix gmelinii, Betula platyphylla, Daxinganling Region.
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