Sensitivity Analyses of Ignition Area and Fire-Atmosphere Dynamics using WRF-FIRE

A new wildland fire-atmosphere module (WRF-FIRE) has been introduced to the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model mesoscale numerical weather prediction system. It simulates coupled fire-atmosphere dynamics where fire effects on the atmosphere are incorporated via sensible and latent energy flux terms within the land-surface schemes used by WRF. This allows explicit treatment of the effects of fire on atmospheric dynamics and feedback to fire behavior due to these perturbations. In this study, the structure and scope of WRF-FIRE are described and a sensitivity analysis of ignition area is presented in terms of the effects of ignition area upon the resulting fire/atmosphere dynamics.