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Abstract

Calibrating the US National Fire Danger Rating System for Sardinia †

1
USFS, RMRS, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT 59808, USA
2
National Research Council, Institute of BioEconomy (CNR-IBE), 07100 Sassari, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Presented at the Third International Conference on Fire Behavior and Risk, Sardinia, Italy, 3–6 May 2022.
Environ. Sci. Proc. 2022, 17(1), 101; https://doi.org/10.3390/environsciproc2022017101
Published: 25 August 2022
(This article belongs to the Proceedings of The Third International Conference on Fire Behavior and Risk)

Abstract

:
Over the last two decades, extreme wildfires across Sardinia have challenged firefighting efforts and heavily impacted communities. Heatwaves may become more frequent, increasing wildfire occurrence and intensity across Mediterranean Europe. As conditions changes, fire managers need the best tools available to evaluate changes in local weather conditions and to assess their subsequent impact on fire potential in order to effectively prepare for and respond to wildfires, especially in fire-prone vegetation types like the Mediterranean maquis. Fire danger rating systems can fill this crucial need if properly calibrated. Here we explore the calibration of the fuel moisture models of the US National Fire Danger Rating System in the Mediterranean maquis of Northwest Sardinia. We leverage field measured near-surface weather, 10-h dead fuel moisture observations and live fuel moisture measurements to calibrate the dead and live fuel moisture models of the US National Fire Danger Rating System. We used grid search optimization to calibrate model parameters which improved relationships between measured and modeled fuel moistures. We then use calibrated fuel moistures to assess seasonal variations in the Energy Release Component and Burning Index from the US National Fire Danger Rating System and we evaluate model performance during extreme wildfire events across Sardinia. Ultimately, this calibrated model can contribute to the development and implementation of robust fire danger rating system to support fire management across Sardinia.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, W.M.J., M.S., G.P., B.A., C.S., A.V. and P.H.F.; methodology, W.M.J., M.S. and G.P.; software, W.M.J.; validation, W.M.J. and M.S.; formal analysis, W.M.J.; investigation, W.M.J., M.S., G.P., B.A., C.S., A.V. and P.H.F.; resources, W.M.J. and M.S.; data curation, W.M.J.; writing—original draft preparation, W.M.J.; writing—review and editing W.M.J., M.S., G.P., B.A., C.S., A.V. and P.H.F.; supervision W.M.J. and M.S.; project administration W.M.J. and M.S.; funding acquisition, W.M.J. and M.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Data available from corresponding author.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Jolly, W.M.; Salis, M.; Pellizzaro, G.; Arca, B.; Scarpa, C.; Ventura, A.; Freeborn, P.H. Calibrating the US National Fire Danger Rating System for Sardinia. Environ. Sci. Proc. 2022, 17, 101. https://doi.org/10.3390/environsciproc2022017101

AMA Style

Jolly WM, Salis M, Pellizzaro G, Arca B, Scarpa C, Ventura A, Freeborn PH. Calibrating the US National Fire Danger Rating System for Sardinia. Environmental Sciences Proceedings. 2022; 17(1):101. https://doi.org/10.3390/environsciproc2022017101

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jolly, William M., Michele Salis, Grazia Pellizzaro, Bachisio Arca, Carla Scarpa, Andrea Ventura, and Patrick H. Freeborn. 2022. "Calibrating the US National Fire Danger Rating System for Sardinia" Environmental Sciences Proceedings 17, no. 1: 101. https://doi.org/10.3390/environsciproc2022017101

APA Style

Jolly, W. M., Salis, M., Pellizzaro, G., Arca, B., Scarpa, C., Ventura, A., & Freeborn, P. H. (2022). Calibrating the US National Fire Danger Rating System for Sardinia. Environmental Sciences Proceedings, 17(1), 101. https://doi.org/10.3390/environsciproc2022017101

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