This Mathematician's Work is on Fire

May 17, 2010   

Mathematician Chris Dugaw (Humboldt State University) has been awarded money to burn. 

With $292,000 from the Joint Fire Science Program of the Departments of Interior and Agriculture, Dugaw will mathematically model the effects of soil moisture on fire behavior on the forest floor. He and wildfire expert J. Morgan Varner (also from HSU) will begin by doing field work in September, 2010, in the mixed conifer Stanislaus-Tuolomne Experimental Forest in central California.

"One of the ultimate goals is to try to determine when smoldering and combustion kill trees,” Dugaw said. The findings could then help speed the restoration and management of fire-prone ecosystems. 

After measuring physical properties of the forest floor, the researchers will use the mathematical model to try to predict how fires spread across large regions. “We will then test the model by comparing its predictions to larger-scale field burns," Dugaw said.

“We’ll study smoldering ground fires, which occur after a flaming forest fire passes through a region and ignites the top layer of soil, which smolders like a cigarette,” Dugaw explained. “These fires are important because they can kill trees and play an important part in post-fire erosion."

Source: The Times-Standard (May 13, 2010); Humboldt State University (April 2, 2010)