Publication Date
3-1-2024
Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Volume
105
Issue
3
DOI
10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0012.1
First Page
E690
Last Page
E708
Abstract
The social, economic, and ecological impacts of wildfires are increasing over much of the United States and globally, partially due to changing climate and build-up of fuels from past forest management practices. This creates a need to improve coupled fire–atmosphere forecast models. However, model performance is difficult to evaluate due to scarcity of observations for many key fire–atmosphere interactions, including updrafts and plume injection height, plume entrainment processes, fire intensity and rate-of-spread, and plume chemistry. Intensive observations of such fire–atmosphere interactions during active wildfires are rare due to the logistical challenges and scales involved. The California Fire Dynamics Experiment (CalFiDE) was designed to address these observational needs, using Doppler lidar, high-resolution multispectral imaging, and in situ air quality instruments on a NOAA Twin Otter research aircraft, and Doppler lidars, radar, and other instrumentation on multiple ground-based mobile platforms. Five wildfires were studied across northern California and southern Oregon over 16 flight days from 28 August to 25 September 2022, including a breadth of fire stages from large blow-up days to smoldering air quality observations. Missions were designed to optimize the observation of the spatial structure and temporal evolution of each fire from early afternoon until sunset during multiple consecutive days. The coordination of the mobile platforms enabled four-dimensional sampling strategies during CalFiDE that will improve understanding of fire–atmosphere dynamics, aiding in model development and prediction capability. Satellite observations contributed aerosol measurements and regional context. This article summarizes the scientific objectives, platforms and instruments deployed, coordinated sampling strategies, and presents first results.
Funding Number
NA17OAR4320101
Funding Sponsor
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Keywords
Aircraft observations, Field experiments, Forest fires, Lidars/Lidar observations, Ozone, Wildfires
Department
Meteorology and Climate Science
Recommended Citation
Brian J. Carroll, W. Alan Brewer, Edward Strobach, Neil Lareau, Steven S. Brown, M. Miguel Valero, Adam Kochanski, Craig B. Clements, Ralph Kahn, Katherine T. Junghenn Noyes, Amanda Makowiecki, Maxwell W. Holloway, Michael Zucker, Kathleen Clough, Jack Drucker, Kristen Zuraski, Jeff Peischl, Brandi McCarty, and Richard Marchbanks. "Measuring Coupled Fire–Atmosphere Dynamics: The California Fire Dynamics Experiment (CalFiDE)" Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (2024): E690-E708. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0012.1
Comments
This article originally appeared in Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Volume 105, Issue 3, 2024. The article can also be found online at: https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-23-0012.1.