Exploratory study of energy distribution and evolution for wildfires

Wildfire involves a redistribution of mass and energy among several reservoirs, such as fuel, atmospheric stability, internal (thermal energy) and others. The amount of energy in these reservoirs prior to the fire plays a role in determining the fire's intensity, rate of spread, column development and other characteristics typically considered part of the fire's behavior. Some indices or measures, such as Energy Release Component (ERC) and Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE), reflect the energy in one or more of these reservoirs. Furthermore, the energy in different reservoirs changes on different time scales. CAPE, for example, changes much more quickly than ERC in areas with heavy fuels. This study presents an exploratory analysis of energy partitioning for several fires. The goal is to look for patterns in energy distribution or trends in the distribution that correspond to known periods of more intense fire behavior, greater spread, or notable changes in fire behavior.